Here is what we feel were our favorites from 2011

Joseph Leotta – Bronx, New York

GlenIsland– Late Summer

I just could not pick one this year.  I finally decided on this one  because it took me back to my roots – Black and White photography around the area here.  When I started all I shot was B&W film which I developed myself. Almost all were shot close to home.  This just had the feel of those days and had pleasant memories for me.

Week 86

 Per-Christian Nilssen – Sarpsborg, Norway

 Week 99 for me

 Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

 Hard to believe it has been another year gone by !

 My choice for my favorite shot is the photo from  week 78.

This was my first time photographing the dogs in training .  It pushed me out of my comfort zone .  I honestly have not had that much fun with my camera in a while.

 Jeannean Ryman – Mcallen, Texas

 I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone chose for their Photo of the Year! I chose this photo of a Buff-bellied hummingbird from week 81 because this was one of those “ah-ha” photos for me. While not the greatest photo of a hummingbird, it did show me it was possible to get a decent shot of one with the equipment I have. This was taken with my D90 and 70-300mm VR lens at 170mm with a small crop. Like most of us, I lust after certain lenses. Lately, I’m lusting after a super telephoto for bird shots. However, I can’t justify spending $7000-$10,000 on a lens, so will keep working with the $475 70-300mm I have, and hone my stalking skills to get closer. Still, one can wish. It might not make me a better photographer, but it would sure be nice!

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

 Like many of you, I had difficulty remembering which ones I submitted in whole 2011.  But I picked this one simply because it was a memorable one for me.  My first attempt to take the stream with tripod and long exposure to make it look creamy flow.  I don’t remember how you take it, but I like this one a lot.  Looking forward to seeing what you picked for yourselves, too.  All of us (if I may include myself) got better, a little or a lot within last year, that’s for sure. 

Ken
www.kih.me
Nikon D700,  28-300mm, @85mm, f/22, 10s, ISO200, with ND filter

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

This is my submission for POTY 2011.

 Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

 My Favorite Photo comes from Week 87.  The opportunity to visitAustraliawith my entire family surpasses any other photo-shoot this year.  Without a doubt, the My Favorite is influenced by the experience, remembering the wonderful time with family and of course, the beauty ofAustralia. 

On the last night that I was going to be able to photographSydney, I chose to venture out toSydneyHarborone more time.  It was late and although the restaurants were busy, the harbor was nearly deserted.  I counted only five other people that night and all were photographers.

Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the Sydney Opera House, one of the most recognized structures in the world, on October 20, 1973.  Contrary to its name, the building houses multiple performance venues.  During the 2000 Summer Olympics, the venue even served as the focal point for the triathlon events.  The Opera House is one of the busiest performing arts centers in the world, hosting over 1,500 performances each year that are attended by over 1.2 million people.  It is also one of the most popular visitor attractions inAustralia, with more than seven million people visiting the site each year, 300,000 of whom take a guided tour.  As I told you in Week 87, I was one of the 300,000 that took the guided tour and I’m still completely blown away by all that I saw.  It is truly an amazing building!

I look forward to viewing all of Your Favorites.  Have a wonderful week!

I took this photo from across theSydneyHarborat around 8:30pm.  

D90 – 30 seconds – f/11.0 – 18-200@34mm – ISO 200 – Aperture Priority – Tripod

Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

my favourite photo of the year would have to be my first attempt at proper pin up shot, I still love the colours we used, I love the pose Coppelia Jane adopted here, her facial expression is priceless When I sent this photo to Nikon Wednesday on Photo.net, I was worried, that it might be too adventurous, but only until other people started writing in and sending some of their boudoir photos, as they were encouraged by my choice for that week. 

I look forward to seeing your chosen favourite photos.  Jana 

Week 56; Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8@ISO 200, f/6.3, 1/160s 

 Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

 had a very hard time choosing between my two favorite photos for this week.  The first one I considered was taken in January 2011 of “my” hawk.  I’ve chased hawks ever since, but haven’t come close to getting a shot that I like as much as that one.  I seem to have lost the touch necessary for getting a sharp bird photo.  But it was on my favorite list because of the proud feeling I had in the capture of it.
 
I chose my favorite as what I call Opie/Mayberry photo, taken in October, for several reasons.  Most of those reasons involve emotion……..that is one of my precious grandchildren there with his fish and our new puppy.  He caught his little fish all by himself, but his “Papaw” wasn’t in the same fishing spot as we were, so we had to trek over to where he was to show him the fish, still on the line!  I took this as a memory photo while following along.  (Grandmothers take lots of those type photos!)  After I saw it, it seemed to ask for the sepia tone that I thought preserved the memory, and the innocent look.  Joe gave me some very nice comments on this photo, and he’ll never know how much I appreciate his words.  My brother, sister-in-law, and husband also love this photo, they may be a little partial to the subject though. (-:

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

LAKE RANCH TRAIL

It’s pretty hard for me to pick my favorite photo of the many I submitted to Joe’s group for 2011. However, I fell this one has a lot of elements I find I really like a lot.

My wife & I were hiking in West Marin, on a ten-mile loop route, up and down the hills. I was a little familiar with the area but not overly. The area is along the Inverness Ridge above theOlemaValley(theSan Andreas Faultas it runs through the county). The fog helped a lot — shooting in the woods with bright sunshine isn’t fun or inspiring — fog is and it mutes the colors and exposure values nicely. Many elements of the “rules of thirds” are at play in this composition.

Camera and lens: Canon EOS 7D, 16-25 2.8L lens at 19mm

Exposure: ISO 400, -1/3 EC, f/5.6, 1/100; Sept. 2011.

I am really looking forward to what everyone else picked out! I hope 2012 is as good or better than 2011 was. Thanks Joe!

 Grant Tanner – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello everyone
Happy new year to you all
My photo is from week 57. A bromeliad taken with the lensbaby.
I like this photo and my mum loves it so that will do me. She has it as an 18 x 12 in a white frame hanging from her wall. I must say it looks fantastic in the white frame

 Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

 Hello all!

Well, best of year. Second year of this group. Great work everyone, especially Joe for working hard on the group altogether!

How and why I’ve chosen this photo? To be honest, I could pick some other, and my favorite photo of last year even didn’t see this group…

I’ve chosen this photo, because it was my first real photo trip with plan, idea, purpose, etc. Davorin and myself went there had a great day and I’m proud to say created some great photos. This is one of them. So, decision wasn’t  too difficult after all. I hope that some of you agree with me. Speaking of best photos, on my blog there is my selection of best photos from last year, so if you have time and will, take a look here:

http://www.filiplucin.com/wordpress/en/year-2011-in-10-photos/

Greetings, Filip.

 Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

 My favorite for 2011 is this shot of old fisherman taken in a small fishermen village on Romanian Black Sea coast. I still recall that morning coming back from the sea, the catch was small and obviously the guys not very happy for hard work with little reward. I took this shot more like trying to fill up the moment and I didn’t hold much hope for it. That’s the surprise factor when shooting film, great expectations shots turning not so good or the opposite happening too.

I only wish to get back to this old man and give him a print…

Shot with Mamiya 7II, Mamiya 50mm F/4.5 lens, Kodak TriX 400 film

 Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Hello All
Difficult to choose. Perhaps I love others more but I decided for the one I sent for week 87. It was the first time I shoot this kind of events. I remember the preparations, the wait for the right moment. I would have liked to blur more the background but I couldn’t go closer

Nikon D300 + 80-200 2.8@ 200 mm
ISO 1000 – f 2.8 – 1/2500

 Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

So many photo’s and I was in no doubt that this one was my best shot.
A very rare situation, at least when it happens right in front of you with time to get your camera too.

Looking forward to see your choices.

All the best

Jens

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

2011 was a solid gold year photographically for me – largely due to a fabulous trip spending the entire month of May traveling through California and the Pacific North West.  I was blessed with magnificent scenery, lighting conditions like I’ve never seen before and got lucky on several occasions with wildlife sightings and perfect sunny sky photo opportunities.  However, my favorite photo of this month long journey was taken in perhaps the most subdued day time lighting conditions I’ve ever shot in along with with a perfect still fog hanging in the canopy many meters above the snow bound earth.

My partner Susan wandered into the trees atSequoiaNational Parkjust a short distance ahead of me which gave this opportunity to use her as a scale against the leviathan trunks of the sequoiadendron giganteum, a tree which i had wanted to see in habitat ever since I was a small boy reading science books.  Perhaps not technically my best exposure for the year 2011 but easily my favorite.

Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

 I’ve been active in photography for 30 years and I still struggle capturing the image I see in my head with my camera. This shot was taken for what I saw – a great opportunity for a 3-D image. What turned out was interesting juxtaposition in architecture. Oh well.

I hope y’all have a great new year.
Don
Canon S100, 1/40 sec, f5

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

 I picked this shot of the baby racoons because of how hard I had to work to get the shot. I also got very attached to watching for them each day. The mom would start moving around each day around the same time we would be taking lunch. She would circle the palm tree and check out to see if it was safe. Then she would wake up the kids and lead them in walking around the top of the palm and show them how to climb thru the branches.. So I would have to follow this parade each day with my camera and hope to get them to even look in my direction. That never worked. So I went up stairs and opened up the window that was only 5′ from the palm and removed the screen and hung out and waited for them to pass by. Probably took 1,000 shots to get this one. There cute little faces stole my heart.

 Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

Empire state building, my pick

 Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

What a great year it was for the group.  So much talent, so many beautiful photos and such diversity.

Thank you Joe for all your efforts!

For my favorite this year, I decided to pick a BW photo.. mostly because that was always my first love in photography. As for the actual photo, I picked the little girl in Jerash who was busy skipping around on the cobblestones.  It’s a favorite on many levels.

First, I rarely shoot people photos; second, I love the fact that as far as she was concerned, I did not exist ( I was close, 24mm lens); third, I only had a moment to react, and managed to nail it.

Thanks again to everyone for sharing their ‘babies’ with the rest of us J

Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

This is picture of mountain Zir inLika,Croatia. For several years, my great desire was to capture the mountain. Last year, that my wish was fulfilled. That is why this is my photo of the year.

Cheers,

Davorin Mance       www.davorinmance.com

 Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

 Shadoe wearing his Halloween Costume” – Yes, his name is spelled that way. Of all of the photos that I submitted, I liked this the best. Dogs don’t normally pose very well, so I shot it a bit wide, then cropped the image tight. Everything worked out well – the light, exposure, catch light in the eye, and I was lucky to catch him when he wasn’t moving.

Nikon D200, ISO 200, f/8, 1/1000 sec.

Joshua Fahler – Jhubei City, Taiwan

 Sorry I’ve been away even after my wedding. I was switching jobs, so it was a bit hectic for a few weeks again. This shot is from the yearly Mazu festival inTaiwan. Mazu is the goddess of the sea – and she is important to the many fishermen inTaiwan. This is a procession including her which actually goes quite a distance – lasting for about a week. It’s one of the biggest religious processions in the world and means a lot to the adherents. 

These San Tai Zi gods are dancing in front of her altar. This is probably one of my top five personal favorite photos due to the color, composition, and “just right” timing. The scene was more chaotic than it looks, as firecrackers were going off and huge crowds are in attendance. I took it with my 35mm prime at ISO 200, f/2.8 (I’m not sure why f/2.8, but oh well!) and a fast shutter of 1/4000. f/5.6 or f/8 probably would’ve been fast enough – but I can’t complain about the technical aspects as it worked out in the end anyway. 

 Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

This is one of my favorites because it represents an area of the country that I love so much.  I love the “wildness” of the land and the serene beauty of the landscape.  I love the colors – the varying shades of blues and greens- my favorite colors.  I love the wide open space.  

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

Choosing your favourite submission can be challenging, and I’ve only been with the group a few months. After lots of toing and froing, I chose thise photo, as it was one of the very few where the execution matched my vision. While other of my submissions may have generated more feedback, this one is the one I was most excited about submitting.

Wayne

 David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

I guess my favorite of my photos was from week 90. It’s a b&w photo of a cemetery statue.  It’s not easy picking a favorite from my own submissions. I’m not a good judge of my own work : )    

DAVID

Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

This is one of the top 5 photos of the thousands I’ve taken that I absolutely love.  I love the snow, the horses coloring, the way they cross each other, the fact that one’s bum is up higher than the other. 

But most of all I can’t believe that I took this shot, so it makes me feel good to look at.

Happy Photo of the Year everyone!

Emma Roberts – Coventry, England

This is my favourite photo I submitted, there are others which have more skill, which other people will appreciate more and which others may choose as their favourite. However this one is a photo which hands on my parents and my Nans wall, which sits on my desk at work and which I don’t grow tired of and which always stirs up emotions. I’m sure it will continue to as the children grow older and because it is a photo I will come back to time and time again I have to pick this one for my favourite of the year.
 
This weeks photos are beautiful, thak you all for sharing them.
Emma

Stacy Winsett – McAllen, Texas

This was submitted as a spare back in September. It is my favorite from this year because I love the colors, the silhouette, and the memory. Taken outside the Sunset Restaurant onZumaBeachinMalibu during my honeymoon weekend.

Stacy

Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Midnight soldier….Week 85….

This shot was the most powerful and memorable moment for me.  I met this guy, Raul, who had just spent the last 5 years inIraqandAfghanistanfighting for our county. .  We spent about 7 hours together doing a photo shoot for the T-shirt company “Midnight Soldier”   He is a sharpshooter,  go figure….anyhow..He was very quiet and reserved and I was trying hard to break through he pain and heartache that was so deeply apparent.  We talked a lot, but what I remember most was asking him about the skulls tattooed on his arm.  He told me that they were of all of his friends that he lost in battle.  All of his “brothers” that he watched die right before his eyes….OMG…my heart sank….Another moment was when I told him that he had such intense eyes and I was looking forward to taking his photo and getting into his soul via those eyes…his response was, “I have no soul” .  WOW…Just rewriting this makes me want to cry.  He left a week later for a mission…they had hired him for special ops….Crazy.  We live our simple wonderful lives worrying about things that really do not even matter. Raul has been fighting a war, risking his life every minute of everyday, seeing his friends die in his arms, carrying 80 pound packs in 120 degree weather…need i say more.  It was a life changing day for me and I am so grateful that I was able to spend that time with him.

Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Sunset at Great Bridge VA
While we were all waiting for the locks to cycle, prior to entering the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW).
The water just before the locks was still and there was not a breath of wind, so the boats would just come up and turn off their engines and they would wait in place.

Nikon D200 F/3.8 1/5sec, 18-70 lens @ 24mm

 Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

Selected for Lara

Was very popular both here and on 365

Bill Shenton – Sheldon, CT

Selected from Bill’s wonderful photos

The Heavens Above

I cannot believe that I took this yesterday afternoon.
Around 4:30 I went to Glen Island in New Rochelle and never expected to find such a dramatic cloud filled sunset. It looks 10 times better up on my large monitor. There’s nothing else I can say about this one.

I shot almost 200 photos while I was there. This had only very minimal post processing – only slight adjustments to the exposure and contrast. The color and temp is SOOC.

 Deb Sulzberger – Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

 WedgeIslandis on the coast of Western Australiaand was a place i visited while holidaying, Tasmaniais actually my home state in Australia.
There is just something about the colours that appeal to me and it was perfect beach weather with a temperature on the day of 40+ degrees

Frits Stempher – Maastricht the Netherlands

 Hello, my name is Frits Stempher and I live inMaastrichttheNetherlands. Think it’s very nice that I may participate in this international photo club.

During one of my walks with my camera on a rainy day I saw these reflections in a pond at the Atomium BruxellesBelgium.

Greetings Frits Stempher

MaastrichttheNetherlands

Uw berichtkannu met het volgende bijlagen of koppelingen worden verzonden

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

 Hitch’n a ride

This pod of dolphins was hung with us for hours, each of them trading off swimming right in from of the bow.

 Nikon D200 F/7.1 1/200sec, 18-70 lens @ 18mm

 Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Hello All

Here a of small figurine of Baby Jesus sleeping. Part of the collections of the Museo del Romanticismo inMadrid. Made in wood and then painted. Is from around 1650, the baroque period. It was made in Andalucia region, probably in the town ofGranada.

Tipical of the period to combine the purity and inocence of the baby with symbols of the mortality of men.

Nikon D300 + 50 mm 1.4  ISO 1600 – f 2.5 – 1/30

 Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

 The photo club I am a member of, http://www.oelstykke.fotoklub.dk, is also part of a cooperation with a lot of photo club’s aroundCopenhagen

Several times a year, there are competitions where a lot of photographers participate, me to, and to attract as many as possible for ‘judgement time’, there was a workshop with 3 models two hours before the winners were announced. It was so successful that 150 photographers showed up! I only got a minute with each model so I had to be quick at the release button. This is the one I Like most.

As always a larger photo at http;//www.fotomedia.dk/JensFrederiksen/index.php?/category/11.

 All the best, Jens

 Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

 It was a dull day for attempting this photo, but it is unusual to see ducks on our lake.  Especially, this many! 
 
Nikon D7000, F5.6, 1/2000s, ISO1600

 Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

 “Inspector Peacock” – I am always amused by the behavior of peacocks. There was a restaurant (Tchoupitoulas Plantation Restaurant) up river fromNew Orleansthat had peacocks roaming the grounds. After parking the car, while walking to the entrance, the peacocks would come right up in front of us, and look us up and down, as if inspecting us to give approval. The peacocks at the Jackson and Audubon zoos do likewise.

 Nikon D200, ISO 200, f/7.1, 1/250 sec.

 Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

 Here is another one I took during the walk in the fine winter weather.  Just did some painting with Capture NX2 (have never used PS or other S/W, ever ).  Very seasonal flower and they are blooming here and there now.  Today, It is massively snowing in Tokyo, where snow accumulation is not as common as in NY.  I am afraid how the road will be tomorrow morning.  Of course, I don’t use car or don’t even have one as I commute by subway, but I don’t like to walk in the snow to the station, which is 30 seconds away   Hope you are having a great week!  Ken

www.kih.me
D700, 16-35mm f/4 @17mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO200, with Capture NX2

 Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!  For this week I decided to send something different. Photo taken last summer when I was on vacation. I liked how the birds all aligned and how the brown one is looking on other side from others. Seagull with attitude. Nikon D80 +Tamron 70-300@240mm, ISO 400, f8, 1/250 sec.

 I’ve enjoyed your photos last week. I expect the same this week too.

Greetings, Filip.

Pozdrav, Filip.

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

 Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

Hi All

Hope everyone is having a good week – nasty weather down here in theSouthern US-  lots of rain and stormy weather!     My shot this week is another from our recent sailing trip.  This was taken in Little Harbour at Peter’s Island as the sun was setting – I never did get a full on sunset shot – either we were out and about and in the wrong spot, or we had some clouds – but this was a really lovely evening and I think the shot conveys the peace and quite we so enjoyed.   Really such a beautiful spot and soothing to the soul.    Looking forward to everyone’s work this week and wishing you all a great week!

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

Squaw ValleySki Resort

I spent last week at a Trade Show here and unfortunately didn’t get as much time as I would have liked to take pictures.  But I did get a couple and here’s one of them.  This mountain should be all white not brown.  It’s been a terrible winter for theUSboth on the East and West coasts.  Ski Resorts are hurting badly.

This shot was taken just outside the front entrance to the hotel and no I’m not standing in the water just next to it!

 Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

 One word – Cow

Wardsbooro,Vermont– by the house

Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

 Last week I was at a Ford dealership close to my house. As I was talking to the salesman I saw an Eagle fly out of a cell tower and dive into a lake. I asked the salesman if he saw the eagle and he said yes they are there every year building a nest. He said I was welcome to go back by there fenced in lake and take pictures. So I was at the dealership at 6:45 am Sat. morning waiting for the gate to open. I spent 3 hours there and got to shoot several birds and ducks. The Eagles didn’t fly around a whole lot. This one did land in a near by dead tree three times. Wish I wouldn’t have been alone. Had a lot of fun. Next time I’m bringing a chair. I was having trouble with my 300 2.8 making contact but I read up on cleaning the contacts and it’s all better now.:)

 Nikon D3x, Nikon 300 2.8, Nikon TC-20E III, 600mm, F/11, 1250 sec, ISO 200

 Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

 Cannon 60D, ISO 400, F/5/6, 1/160

Eli….This is Eli…I saw him sitting against the wall and asked him if I could take his photo.  I think this was the most chilling of my street encounters.  He was willing and ok, but as I got to about shot 10 he started to get very uncomfortable and agitated.  Not at me.  I think it was drug induced.  He was definitely on some pretty major drugs at the time, he could barely talk.  Anyhow, still found this to be a powerful moment.  I do not know how he lost his arm, and I have not seen him around since this day. I hope he is ok.

 Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

 Last week I got to get back into the studio again. One of the shots we did is something I have been wanting to try for some time. While it’s not my idea, I like the subtleties we captured.

Taken with a Nion D300 Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8

For this photo I shot through a lace umbrella. Definately an idea I want to try again.

Taken with a Nion D300 Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8

 Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

 Sunset on my favorite river.

 Best regards, Davorin

Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

 Warm welcome to new members Deb and Frits, and hopefully we’ll see Ertugrul and Gladys coming back to this group again.

 My photo for this week is from last autumn photographic shootout at a nearby airstrip, lots of old utility airplanes there but the girls has it all.

 Shot with Mamiya 645 Pro TL, Mamiya 55mm F/2.8 lens, Kodak Ektachrome EPP 100 (now discontinued).

 Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

 have just acquired the Sigma 150 mm f2.8 APO Macro EX DG OS and without hesitation I  went looking for something to shoot.  I came across a somewhat fearless kookaburra which allowed me to get very close.  So this is my first shot with a macro lens.  One of the things I was curious to find out about was whether you would be able to tell the difference as to whether a shot like this was taken with a macro prime lens or a normal prime lens.  I am thrilled that I finally have a macro lens.  Welcome aboard Deb and Frits.

Nikon D3s + Sigma 150 mm f2.8 macro at 1/1000s, f/3.2 and ISO 200

 Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

 Hi everyone.  Wonderful photo of the year thread!

With the mild winter still have a few flowers in the garden.   I was truly blessed when the lady bug decided to pay a visit.

 Hope you enjoy.

 David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

 ”Icon”

 Another fine cemetery find….my third cemetery photo submission in a row, if I’m not mistaken. I found this statue in a small Catholic cemetery in the town ofNew London. The original color photo was nice enough, but I felt the image worked better in black & white.  Thanks all for previous kind comments

 Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

 Marin Headlands at theGolden Gate

Where: Looking back towardsSan Franciscofrom Pt. Bonita, January 2012.

My wife accompanied me this day on a short, 2-hour photo excursion. I love her patience!

Canon EOS 7D, 24mm, f/6.3, ISO 100.

 Stacy Pace – Allen, Texas

One Man Fishing”

January 20, 2012,LakeLavon, Lucas Texas

Nikon D90 Nikkor 35mm f/1.8  ISO 160 1/400 @ f/10

A bright day at the drought-suffering lake. I came upon many treasures in the sand – beer cans that are over 30 years old, lost sunglasses, large champagne bottles, beach sandals, and dead fish…all things previously held by the sand at the bottom of the lake. The drought has exposed them to the world now. There was one man fishing on the beach…his name was Henry. He told me he was just catching and releasing for fun, thinking of old times when his son was younger and they would fish during their lunch hour. When I spoke to him, he had 4 bass and 2 catfish on his trot lines. I told him I would probably take a photo of him when I got further down the shore, and he said that would be just fine

 Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

I adore this image of my parents.  I wanted to have a photo of the two of them on their small farm as they are aging and the farming life they live now can’t last forever……  I insisted they walk through the wet grass all the way around a lagoon to this location where the light was

‘just so’ and i could capture a reflection in the still black waters.  

I took this photo last year in the depths of winter in gorgeous late afternoon sunlight – I sat way over on the opposite bank of the lagoon and encouraged my parents to keep their faces up and looking into the setting sun.  I am usually a miserable portrait photogrpaher but I really like this ‘environmental’ portrait of my parents.  I had a 35 inch print made and framed and gave it to them as a Christmas present.

Captured hand held with D700 + Nikkor AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens @ 140mm, f/5.6, 1/125th sec,  ISO 400

 Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Welcome to our new members.  Glad to have you on board.

My photo comes from theGreat Ocean Road.

Have a great week.  I think the virus is lifting!

Gej

 Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

Last Tuesday I went toBentsenState Park(about 11 miles from my house) and was treated to a wonderful day of nature. First, I ran into an Eastern Screech Owl, then happened upon two bobcats (mama and her young one) at a watering hole, then watched a coastal ribbon snake make a meal out of a leopard frog (that took about an hour or so). I felt like I’d stepped into the Discovery Channel! Many of you on Facebook have seen a few of the pics, so decided to post the one of the young bobcat that hasn’t been posted. The pic of both mama and the young one, was posted today by the staff at Bentsen and it was “liked” over 300 times and “shared” more than 80 times, including South Texas Outdoor Magazine and the mainTexasParksand Wildlife page. Evidently, capturing two at the same time doesn’t happen that often, so a lot of people were excited to see it.  Anyway, here is the photo of the young one. Mama had had her fill and had started walking off, but this one wasn’t finished yet.

 Taken with my Nikon D7000/70-300mm VR at 300mm. Tags: bobcats,BentsenState Park.

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

 Rick Dohme

I also got to observe a pair of Great Blue Herons building a nest in the top of a 50′ pine tree. This is one of them launching himself off the tree to get more sticks.

Nikon D3x, Nikon 300 2.8, Nikon TC-20E III, 600mm, F/5.6, 1/800 sec, ISO 200

 Joseph Leotta

The Bird lady

When I was atGlenIslandyesterday, I spied this woman walking out onto of the docks.

I wondered what she was doing outing out there on a cold January day.  She reaches into a plastic bag and starts throwing pieces of bread into the air and water. Within a few seconds seagulls came from all directions.  

 The best part was what she did next – she takes out a point and shoot and starts snapping away at the birds eating.

Roberta Davidson

 have been trying my hand at doing some bird photography.   Lusting for

a 500mm f/4 , but way out of may budget.  So, trying to make the best with my 300mm f/4 and 1.4 TC.

Hope you enjoy.

With just a little bit of light

Last week I took a ride up to the pier inRyejust about twilight. It was a pretty warm day for January.  At first I thought nothing special was happening with the sun set, but as the light levels grew lower and lower I played around with some low light exposures.

When I saw this appear on the back monitor of the camera I was completely surprized. What I saw in the viewfinder and what the camera did with a little bit of light was amazing.. The viewfinder was very dark, so I played with long exposes hand held with the camera braced against fences and poles. Different exposures and different Iso’s chimping the photos on the monitor till I got the results I wanted. A little patience and within a few shots you can get good results.

  Then after the light was gone I tried one with almost complete darkness. I put the camera on the railing and tried several time exposures.  The darkness had turned into interesting blues with little contrast from the sea and the sky.    I had tried similar shots here before but I finall hit it right this time.

 What I find interesting in this shot is that the slow shutter speed gave the moving water a silky look except for right next to the rock jetty where there was little movement.  The small area of still water added a strip of reflection right next to the rocks.

 Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

My best result inside the 365project. We are having very scarce lighting here in Germany… it is always cloudy, raining and foggy. So I decided to make a composition of what was available.

Shot this one with my 50 mm, iso 400 and f. 3.5.

Hope you all had a wonderful holidays. Sorry if I am not the best to reply the messages, I read them all, but seldom got time to reply them so diligently like everyone. 

Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

 Hey GUYS. All that writing about HD filters made me take a walk down the beach with my ND filter to capture this.

 Had to try a lot of times to get the right light, not easy to measure with a ND10 filter. Also had to blind the oculareven I do not know how falls light affects the photo when the mirror is up? It did though.

Normally I always use the lens hood and it is absolutely necessary when using long exposure times and the sun is shining.

D700 70-200@170mm Manual focus f/22 20s ISO 200 +NX2

All the best

Jens

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

I haven’t had many opportunities for photography this past week.  This morning I had this bloom on my hibiscus plant that I had brought in for the winter.  It did brighten up my day.
 
Nikon D7000, F/6.3, 1/20, ISO 1000

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

I recently took a trip up to the Granite Dells inPrescott, on the way I visited an old mining town called Jerome.

On that outskirts of Jerome is someone who collects all kinds of old cars and machinery.

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Hello All

ThanksWaynefor your comments on last week pics!

Here the baroque interior of St Peter Church ( Peterskirche ) inVienna, taken last month

Nikon D300 + Tamron 10-24 @ 11mm

ISO 200 – f 7.1 – 0.8 sec

Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

“Olive Jar and Spider Web” — I was walking around the Oak Alley Antebellum Plantation Home, when I spied the evening sunlight on this old olive jar. These pottery jars were used to ship olives, and other goods during the days of old sailing ships. When they were empty, they were often put to use as flower pots, or for other useful purposes. Now, they are quite popular, and while you will pay plenty for an original antique, contemporary reproductions are available everywhere.

Nikon D200, ISO 200, f/8, 1/60 sec., aperture priority

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning Sharpshooters!

I think I came down with the same virus that Joe was consumed with a few weeks ago.  No desire to venture out to photograph.  Kind of a blah feeling when it comes to picking up the camera.

As it turns out, I didn’t photograph anything this week that I was pleased with.  The photos that I did shoot this week were all deleted after viewing them on the computer.  So, I looked back four years and came up with this photo.

It was taken at our eldest daughters wedding.  While heading to the beach, I spotted this fella and stopped for a photo.  He posed and I clicked off a half dozen photos.  This one is cropped but not too much.  I think I was about three feet away when I took this shot.

Hoping that the warm weather kills the virus!

Gej

 Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

 I haven’t had the camera out much of late, which is a sad state of affairs. So this week I’m submitting some photos taken last year when I was out testing the Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 lens I won on auction. This really is a wow lens for me, and really wish I had a Nikon mount version. As for the subject matter, who can resist a merry go round?

Taken with a Voigtlander VSL-1 and Zeiss Jena 50mm f/2.8 Kodak gold 200 film. (the cheap stuff)

Wayne

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

Clouds
So I missed the theme week we had for clouds since every time I could get some photos of clouds there weren’t any clouds! Yesterday I flew from Vermont to Reno, Nevada and from the airplane I too some shots of the clouds (before I was told to stop taking photos, meanies). Here’s one that I thought was unique.
I’m in Squaw Valley, California now for a trade show and I can’t wait to start taking photos today. It’s just a HDR photographer’s heaven!! Have a good week everyone. Clouds
So I missed the theme week we had for clouds since every time I could get some photos of clouds there weren’t any clouds! Yesterday I flew from Vermont to Reno, Nevada and from the airplane I too some shots of the clouds (before I was told to stop taking photos, meanies). Here’s one that I thought was unique.
I’m inSquaw Valley,California now for a trade show and I can’t wait to start taking photos today. It’s just a HDR photographer’s heaven!! Have a good week everyone.

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

Golden GateBridgeduring morning winter storm over the Bay Area — while riding the ferry on choppy seas to the office,  

EOS 7D, 24-70 lens, ISO 800.

Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

 Cannon EOS 60D, ISO 200, F/5.6, 1/200

The High In My Eyes….This is Josh…Met him inVenice.  We chatted for awhile and he was really open to me taking photos.  He was a great subject.  He was smoking a lot of pot during the time we hug out and was really trying to convince me to partake.  He, like most of the homeless kids I talk to seem to be at peace with their life.  My goal for this year is to try to do what I can to help them all find a better path.

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Vanishing point (Still shooting things that don’t move J)

This is a railroad line that runs from a quarry near my house down toLong Islandsound.

Nikon D200 F/13 1/60sec, 18-70 lens @ 70mm 

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

Hello everyone.   I am sorry I couldn’t comment back last week.  Have been busy these days.  Here is my submission this week.  Concourse of the station, which I believe I posted the one taken from the other side in B&W while ago.  This time, I was with the wide zoom and I like what it did.  Hope you have a wonderful week!  Ken
www.kih.me

D700, 16-35mm VR f/4 @16mm, f/8, 1/40s, ISO200

Stacy Pace – Allen, Texas

bought a small glass orb (about 2″) to expore some creative options for a school assignment on surrealism. I have had so much fun with this little thing!

Post processing includes rotating images 180 degrees to correct the orientation of the scene within the globe. I also experimented with setting the globe on a base to shoot, but I like the hand showing to really show what is happening in the image. The 35mm is the perfect lens for this kind of shooting because you can get such good, crisp focus at arm’s length. I highly recommend adding one to your arsenal. You can find them online (google glass orb), but I found mine at a craft store – it was part of a patio decoration. The decoration was ugly, so I just kept the ball and discarded the rest.

Nikon D90 Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 1/2000 @ f/3.5 ISO 200

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

ThanksWaynefor you kind comments. Looking forward to a great week. Thought I’d try shooting some early morning dew shots of this hibiscus. I think this old Nikon manual macro lens I have is the sharpest I have. Funny its the cheapest I have too.

Nikon D3x, Nikon 105 AIA 2.8 macro, F/16, 1/60 sec, ISO 50, SB 900 flash

Jeannean Ryman – Mcallen Texas

I’ve been enjoying the beautiful weather we’ve been having with outings toBentsenState Park. I nearly ran smack into this Eastern Screech Owl hiding in the tree cavity. They camouflage themselves very well! This little guy is about 1/4 the size of the Great Horned Owl I found not too long ago. Both look similar, except for their size.

D7000/70-300mm VR Tags: Eastern Screech Owl,BentsenState Park

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

This is a shot from our sailing trip last week to the BVI-  this is where we anchored our first night out – Little Harbour, Peter’sIsland.   It was incredibly beautiful – the color of the water was just gorgeous.  Nothing at this little cove except some great snorkeling and relaxation.  A great start to an amazing week!  

 Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

My son ready to blow out the candles on his 16th Birthday this month.  The pop-up flash on the D300 was used.  The shot was taken “on the fly”.  16 yo’s don’t stay still.

 D300 + 24-70 f/2.8 at 48 mm 1/60s -0.67EV (AP hand-held) 

Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

I’ve been active in photography for 30 years and I still struggle capturing the image I see in my head with my camera. This shot was taken for what I saw – a great opportunity for a 3-D image. What turned out was interesting juxtaposition in architecture. Oh well.

I hope y’all have a great new year.

Don

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

This is the magnificent flower of a Puya alpestris plant.  Puya alpestris is a terrestrial bromeliad which originates from the high open gravel scree slopes of the Chilean Andes.  This particular species – alpestris produces the most out of this world metalic turquoise flowers with bright orange stamens.  I grew this plant from seed and it finally flowered for me after 8 years, for a plant fancier such as myself to see this in my own garden is well worth the wait………

Captured on a tripod with D700 + Nikkor Ai 55mm f/3.5 micro lens @ f/11, 1/500th sec, ISO 400 straight out the camera – used a custom white balance before taking the exposures in an attempt to nail the flower colour.

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

 Just love these night shots on the way home from work

 Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

Son and niece trying a bit of photo modeling, so future looks promising. Looking forward for photo of the year edition, good luck to Joe with his connectivity troubles. 

 Technical info: Nikon F6, Nikon 50mm F/1.4 lens, Kodak Tmax 100

 Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

 Hello all!

First, thank you Wayne for comments on all photos, including mine. Yes,  square crop have it charms. Hassy is expensive toy, perhaps to start with some TLR? Not versatile as Hassy, but not nearly so expensive.

 My photo for this week, is taken on the same hill and same trip as Davorin’s pine tree from last week. I was around 15 meters lower though. We did come with intention to photograph sunset. Though it didn’t look like it will happen, as you can see the sun showed up just at the right place  at the right time, so I could capture this fiery sunset. Not perfect  composition but trust me, it was great feeling watching this sunset.

Techs are Nikon D80 + Sigma10-20@10mm (should I write this part at all?

), f10, 1.6 sec, ISO100 + 3stop Cokin GND filter.

 I’m looking forward to see your photos tomorrow, thank to Joe and his hard work for all of us.

 Pozdrav, Filip.

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

Gej Jones

BellingrathGardensis so vast that there is something for everyone.  Near theAsianGardenarea there was this hugh Dragon.  It must have been 25-30 feet long.  I think those are rockets to the right of the dragon but for kids they might see them as Crayola Crayons. 

It’s easy to see why it takes nearly three months to put everything in place.  I’d hate to be the person responsible for checking the 3,000,000 lights each year…. and yet there would be some job security.

Have a great week.

Haig Tchamitch

The town called Jerome itself has a few interesting spots as well.

 Wayne Ervine

I broke one of my main rules – always have a camera with you. Yesterday I had to visit a client in Long IslandCityright by the edge of the East River. When I left at 5 PM I passed a LIC park with walking piers out towards the Manhattan Skyline. No camera, darn, so out comes the cell phone.. 

Instead of trying to correct the photo to l DSLR standards, I decided to leave the noise and accent it to look like film grain.. A quick pass thru Photomatrix with my single shot HDR method and I think you end up with something decent. 

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Work’n for a Living

Believe it or not, this is not on the ocean, but on the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICW).

The ICW was created for this kind of traffic.  I liked the bright colors on the tug as he pushed his barge north.

Nikon D200 F/8 1/400sec, 18-70 lens @ 48mm

 Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

 This shot was named “Framed in Ghost Town”. It was taken on the 26th Dec. We were out to get some brunch but got really shocked that the city was totally empty. Found just one restaurant opened. So since the streets were desert I´ve set my camera on my tripod and automatic shutter (like the previous one, Lara 101, “It Raining Again”.
For this composition I also used my 50 mm, f. 8 and iso 400. I´ve tonemapped one exposured and got this painterly effect.

All the best for new year.

 Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

Here inDenmarkwinter has not come yet and temperature are +5C.

Sunday in the forest, a little grey but some fine views though.

Here is one. D700 24mm F/13 1/40s

Happy Wednesday all.

Jens

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

 Here is the scene from the traditional New Year event.  We go to shrine – any shrine, local shrine, or big shrine, doesn’t matter – on new year days to pray for the good year.  This one is one of the biggest one in Tokyo- Meiji Shrine. and I took the first gate to it.  Traditionally, there are lots of gods for Japanese people, more precisely, gods have been believed to be in anything, anywhere.  So, shrines are just the place to thank and pray for those gods.  So, any shrine is generally okay to go to – of course these days some shrine boast it is good at academic accomplishment and another boast it is good at finding spouse, for, I assume, commercial purposes.  Anyway, what is important is the heart to pray (hey, most Japanese are atheists on the surface, but not in the hearts, and this is almost only occasion they go to shrine), so we go any shrine during the new years days.  Hope you had wonderful new years days, too. 

Ken    www.kih.me
D700, 24-70 @26mm, f/8, 1/100s, ISO500 (Auto)

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Happy New Year Again!  We’re already in our second week of 2012.

Although theBellingrathGardenscelebration ‘Magic Christmas in Lights’ is about Christmas, I chose a photo this week that could have been for any moment in time.  

We had arrived before sunset and the ‘magic’ really didn’t develop for about an hour.  In this photo the sky was the beautiful blue that you get 20-30 minutes after sunset.  There was absolutely no breeze, the pond or lake was perfectly calm and the reflections were almost as vivid and clear as the images themselves.  When we came out of a ‘tunnel of lights’ I was struck by the reflections on the water and in particular the reflection of the tree.  The swans were in the middle of the lake and they were the focal point of this display.  The swans were being photographed by hundreds of visitors but I was so taken with the tree and its reflection that I moved around the lake until I found a spot that allowed me to frame the photo with the tree and its reflection.  I didn’t want the reflection to interfere with all of the displays and I think I was able to accomplish my goal.

Have a Great Week and I look forward to Your Favorites on Friday.

Gej

 Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

Greetings all.

The other day while visitng a friend, we were sitting under the shade in the garden chatting, and I pulled out the camera to try out the new monpod. Not that much of interest to shoot, but really enjoyed the Pigeon sillouette against the cloud. Didn’t even need a polariser to get the sky this blue.

Taken with a Nikon D300 and Tamron 70-300VC.

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

This is recent photo I took on the lake nearby. The sun was about to set on that cloudy day, but it was still high enough to paint the clouds roaming on the sky. I was using my ND filter to create long exposure photo. Croped it to square and that’s about that.

I hope you like it.

Nikon D80+Sigma 10-20@11.5mm, f8, ISO 200, 69.7 sec.

Greetings, Filip.

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Went on a photography date last Sat. night with my wife. We went to a new park on the water in search of some cool birds. She was armed with her new Nikon 1. Saw a lot of cool birds that were a lot faster than we could react. I had a large hawk fly right at me within 15 ‘ and I was on manual focus so my shots were all bad. This guy was movin’ slow enough for me. 

Nikon D3x, Nikon 80-400, 280mm, !/50sec, F/11, ISO 800

 Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

Just the resident Veteran’s Park blue heron.  I’m doing a lot of practicing to try to get sharp bird photos. Lately, it has almost been impossible.  Hope this one passes.
 
f/7.1, 1/800s, Auto ISO 400, 300mm

 Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

Peek-A-Boo” — I really love to watch the orangutans at the zoo. They are so funny, and love to cover themselves with cloths, cardboard boxes, or whatever is handy. They behave much like children, and have many “human characteristics.” This one at the Jackson Zoo was playing peek-a boo with the park’s visitors.

Nikon D200, ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/100 sec.

Jeannean Ryman – Mcallen, Texas

The weather has been very nice lately, so last Wednesday, I went to the beach for a brief stay (South Padre Island, TX). I’ve never seen so many hawks at the beach before! I finally got a picture of the elusive White-tailed Kite. I think it’s one of the prettier hawks.

It’s rare to be able to get so close to one. I stalked this one in my car, and used the car for my “bird blind”.

 I was able to get within 10-15 yards of it.

Taken with D7000/70-300mm VR. 

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com

 Stacy Pace – Allen, Texas

 I had a wonderful time with my MeetUp photography club (North Texas Photography Club) over the weekend. We went toTaylorDanceCenterinMcKinney,Texasto shoot several ballerinas. We had one room with a studio lighting setup, and another room with all natural light from the windows. I have some others posted on my Facebook page, but I saved one for the club. I’m currently taking a photographic design class, and have been working a lot with photoshop layers and textures – our final project for the class is a surrealistic landscape. This ballerina was so doll-like with her porcelain skin, and just had a very classic look, so I decided to experiment with some old-time film textures. I’m happy with the outcome – 9 layers later!

Studio lighting setup – 2 800w strobes, beauty dish, hair light (not my lighting or I would give more specs on the brands/wattage…sorry)

Nikon D90  Kit lens 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6   ISO 200, 45mm, 1/200 @ f/18

Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

 Hello everyone .    

We have been having some unseasonably warm weather

Went out to try and find some birds and well ran across this guy gathering pollen.

Hope you enjoy.

D7000   300mm f/4.

Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

Hi sharpshooters!

On Saturday I was with friends from the Photo Club on a photo walk to a nearby hill. We planned to photograph the sunset. While I was looking for a favorable location for the shooting, I took a photo of this pine, almost identical to the shot I’ve taken more than year ago. Then the base of the mountain was covered with fog and low clouds hide the mountains in the distance. I turned the photo into black and white. On Saturday, they were significantly different conditions, so I was curious how it will look. Here is in front of you, so check yourself

Olympus e-510, Olympus 12-60 f/2,8-4,0  @ 60mm, ISO 200, 1/60 sec @ f/8, handheld.

Best regards, Davorin

www.davorinmance.com

 Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

Amusement parks are common during Christmas celebrations bringing colors and fun to a dull winter without a trace of snow so far. I find interesting those funny looking old style and design carousels with kitschy naive paintings. Ironically, although some of these things are very likely to be older than me the carousel name painted on says it’s the youth’s chains.

Technical info: Mamiya 645 Pro TL, Mamyia 55mm F/2.8 lens, Kodak Ektar 100 film (not exactly my favorite film, I always prefer neutral saturation of Portra line)

 Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Beauty Below….

Cannon EOS 60D, ISO 100, F/9, 1/80

A great day inHuntington Beach,California….Right now…this is my favorite shot to look at.  Been getting into landscapes lately…..

Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

I had no idea what photo to pick for this week.  I had 400 photos of a photo session I did but I didn’t want to use any of those. I started searching through all my folders of photos when I came upon my ‘To File’ folder with over 1200 photos in it.  I decided to go with that and find something.  This is what I found.

This was taken from inside my office at the end of October just at the start of the big blizzard and the only snow we’re seen so far this year!  I have an idea for something I want to create with window panes so when I saw this photo it reminded me of that and I decided to see if I could play with this and make it look a touch better.

It’s definitely different for me, right? Not a horse anyway.

I can’t wait to see the Photos of the Year!

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

This is a Willie (Willy) Wagtail. It is the largest, and most well-known, of the Australian fantails.  Its black throat, white eyebrows and whisker marks are what distinguishes it from other similar-sized black and white birds.  Their nests are made out of spider web!

D300 + 200VRII at f/2, 1/500s and ISO 200

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

Here’s a photo I took of my friend Kyle skating on a grocery store’s delivery ramp in back. Once I got the shots from this shoot on my computer, him & I started going through them. He said he always thought black & white images with certain colors left in the frame were interesting, so I got to editing and a little while later came up with this. 

 Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

“Bottle Line-up”

I lined up six actual (but mini) taster bottles from the Duckhorn collection (includes Paraduxx, Goldeneye, & Migration) and shot their portrait with my fast 85mm lens, wide open.

Canon EOS 7D, 85mm at f/1.8, 1/40, ISO 200 — 1/7/2012

-Ken Papai

 David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

“On AHillside”

A shot from a rural cemetery I discovered earlier today. Lovely place. Gravesites dating back to the 1870′s.

Panasonic Lumix FZ35

A few words about last week’s edition of Sharpshooters: Superb!  Everyone contributed such wonderful photos. Last week was probably my favorite since I first joined the group.

Per-Christian Nilssen – Sarpsborg, Norway

Let us hope that 2012 will be a good year, with love in our hearts….

From New Years Eve

Per-Chr.

Nikon D300, Nikkor 24-70

 Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

Week 102 already – clean forgot to submit a photo as I’ve been working out late using daylight savings well into the evenings………..  I have quickly raced out to the car port and pointed the 55mm at these swallows, very close to fledging now, these are the 3rd cluch from this particualr nest this spring /summer. 

Quick photo, took 10 seconds to shoot and 30 seconds to crop and re-size from the camera…….. D700 + Nikkor Ai 55mm f3.5 @ f/5.6 1/150th sec,  ISO 2000

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello All

A glass sculpture at theVictoriaandAlbertMuseuminLondon

Nikon D300 + 50 mm 1.4

Iso 1000 – f 2.2 – 1/ 320

Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

Rick Dohme – 3 photo essay

I’m very excited about my shots this week. I live in an old house built in 1930 in the middle of an orange grove. When I moved here 20 years ago the house was on one acre of land with 4 fruit trees and 7 pecan trees. I only have 2 fruit trees and 3 pecan trees left. The birds and squirrels just love the pecan trees.

I’m always checking the trees for a good shot. I’ve been trying for the past 5 years to get a good shot of the woodpeckers that visit often.Sunday morning I was pretty sick with a cold so I stayed home from church. As I was resting on the couch I heard quite a lot of bird chirping outside that caught my attention. So I went out and witnessed a feud between one family of woodpeckers and a lone male who must have been too close to their tree or food source.

 The two smaller Downy Woodpeckers, a male and a female (red head male), were flying at the poor Red-Bellied male and giving him a lot of grief wherever he went. He seemed unfazed as this went on for over 2 hours. I got to shoot over 200 pictures as they stayed around so long. I tried every lens I had. After 5 years I finally got some shots I liked.

Nikon D3x, Nikon 300 2.8, f/8, 1/125 sec, ISO 64, SB 900 flash

Wardsboro in winter

For the holidays here’s a HDR shot done on my road inVermont2 weeks ago when we had snow.  This past weekend it was all gone, but it has started to snow again so we’re looking at a white Christmas.

I took the single shot of the photo and redid it as a HDR. You need 3 bracketed shots at different exposure EV values to create one. To get the 3 shots from 1 I first created the 2 extra ones by changing the light levels in Lightroom and saved them. With the set of 3 I then used photomatrix to generate a HDR image. It then took a number of color points in NX2 to correct the image to what you see. 

Nikon D300 – Nikkor 18-200 VR zoom @ 18mm – ¹/640 sec, f/13, ISO 250

 Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Lifeguards

Cannon EOS60D, ISO 125, f/9, 1/320

I was taking a walk and saw these Lifeguard stations all stacked next to one another.  I think it is something that they do in the wintertime….not sure why, but I wanted to share them with you. Happy Holidays to all

Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

 The Piper” — I attended a funeral for an acquaintance the day before Thanksgiving, and as requested by his widow, documented the service with my camera. He was a doctor, and a retired Major General, and had a military ceremony that included the Military Honor Guard and a bagpiper. I had been documenting various dedications and ceremonies at this new military cemetery for the past year. While it was always a solemn and sobering experience, it presented me with many photographs that would otherwise be unavailable. This was in color, but so close to being totally monochrome, that I thought it would do better as a black & white photo.

Nikon D200, ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/500 sec

 Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

It will not be a white Christmas this year, Grey an rainy but with motives anywhere one looks.

These colourful canoes put away for the winter gives a nice foreground and contrasts the overall grey, I think:-)

Merry Christmas to you and your families.

Jens

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

My photo this week is from back in October.  A foggy morning on what used to be BeaverLake, which is now a part of the Tombigbee Waterway.
 
D7000, Tamron 18-270. F/8, 1/320s, ISO 140

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

Last week my good friend Archie died after a three battle with cancer.  We attended his funeral service last Monday morning but stayed overnight on Sunday in the ‘big smoke’ of Melbourneinstead of facing a potential 3.5 hour drive in peak hour traffic to arrive on time for a 9:00am Monday morning service.  The apartment I booked for us to stay at in Williamstown had a lovely view across the Royal Melbourne Yacht Club to the Melbournecity skyline.  As luck would have it the full moon on Sunday evening played a perfect part in capturing this night scene.

Captured hand held against the window frame with my trusty Nikon D700 + AF-S 70-200 f/2.8 VR I lens @ 105mm, f/8, 1.6 sec, ISO 800

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

Parisin July…

A young photographer had just finished taking some photos of the young lady, who looked quite lovely with the sun lighting up her hair from behind.  I might have missed the ‘decisive moment’, but was quite happy to capture the scene, even with all it’s extra clutter.

Pentax k20d, DA 16-45 @ 29mm, F/7.1, 1/200 sec, ISO 320

 Per-Christian Nilssen – Sarpsborg, Norway

Entering a new phase in my dance photos – instead of trying to achieve the utmost sharpness, I’d like to explore the movement and long shutter times.

Another photo from freestyle/dance-competitions.  If you get bored of these, guys, please let me know!

Nikon D300, 24-70mm   1/3sec I guess…

Merry Christmas, everybody!!

Per-Christian

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning Sharpshooters!

Tomorrow we head toBellingrathGardensto view the celebration of the ‘Magic of Christmas in Lights’.  They are said to have over 3 million sparkling lights and over 950 displays throughout the 65 acre Garden estate.

We’ve never been to the Light Celebration before and although the weather if questionable, we will give it a go.

Again this year I will be out Christmas Eve trying to spot Santa.  Last year all I got was the blur of the taillights on Santa’s Sleigh.  I’m going to use a faster shutter speed this year and hope to capture the Santa and his Sleigh.

To entire Sharpshooter family, Merry Christmas!

Gej

Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go….even the birds are donning their gay apparel! Here is a special bird called the Christmas Coot. Taken with my Nikon D90/70-300mm VR.

http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, Auto exposure, Landscape, 1/49 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100

Our Christmas Tree
So my daughter and I headed out Saturday to get our Christmas Tree.  We went to a tree farm to pick out and cut down our own tree plus it’s only $20!  She was a wreck about whether or not we could do this – ‘How will we cut it down?’ ‘Can we carry it?’ ‘How will we get it on top of the car?’ Well we rock!  She cut it down herself (I held the tree), we dragged it to the gentleman who wrapped it in netting.  Then we easily carried it to the car, easily lifted it on top and then tied it down with what else? baling twine!
We got home, cut some of the bottom branches off, put it in the tree stand and brought it in the house.  Several hours later and it was all decorated.
I’m so proud of her and of myself.  We did it ourselves!!

 Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

This is a shot of a friend’s outside shed. He lives in Moran, Wyoming, just a stones throw from the Grand Tetons. He uses it to keep horse riding equipment and you can see one of the saddles on the far left.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. We’re heading to Orlando for warm weather and family.
Don

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Saturday my son and I were out fishin’ andColumbussailed by on the Pinta. Well not sure ifColumbuswas aboard but this is a working replica of the Pinta. The Nina was also right behind them. They sailed into the marina onClearwaterbeach. We went over close to them after fishing. Very cool looking boats. Wouldn’t want to sail across the ocean in one.

Nikon D200, Tamron 28-300, 185mm, F/25, 1/320 sec, ISO 500

 Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

 Part of my evening commute each day, taken walking to the train station after work

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

A walk in the winter sun.  In urban area, the sun plays with building windows.  Reflection sometimes makes the second sun.  On weekend, traffic is relatively light.  There is another reflection of the sun on the street.  Looks like georama, but nothing has been done.  Very nice day indeed.  Have a happy holiday weekend! 

Ken
www.kih.me
D90, 18-105 @18, f/11, 1/640s, ISO 200

 Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

my photo for this week is from the frostyCzech Republic, I went for a walk today in the morning, it was -7 degrees and everything was covered in frost. Beautiful. 

Nikon D60, 18-55 mm, 3.5-5.6G@ISO 100, 1/60s, f/5.6

Have a lovely week and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you all!

Jana

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

Greetings.

I recently got to do a quick shoot with a grnada and her grand daughter. While baby photography is not my favourite genre, going to need to work on it. Trying to get a little one to both look at the camera and smile is rather challenging.

This one I decided to go for a slightly vintage feel.

Taken with : Nikon D300 Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 and 3 speedlights in modifiers.

 Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello everyone!

My contribution for week #99 is photo of calm river in dawn

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Last of the snow storm damage in late October, it topped a 2+ foot oak tree about 20 feet in the air. 

Luckily it missed my house and power lines, but pretty much wiped out my wife’s garden.

This is one of my neighbors who loves working with his chainsaws.  Cool clear day with perfect sun in the afternoon. 

I liked the brilliant blue of the sky and the vibrant color of his safety gear

Nikon D200 F/7.1 1/180sec, 18-70 lens @ 46mm

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

For week 99 I present photo taken this summer. It’s a long exposure photo that I thought had an interesting composition.

Thank you all for comments here and on FB.

Photo details: Nikon D80+Sigma 10-20@10mm, f9, ISO 200, 30sec.

Greetings, Filip.

 Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

A recent weekend short trip to the nearby mountains gave me the opportunity to come across this old man coming down from the mountains on horseback, a character like out of a fairy tail with gnomes and other fabulous living creatures of the forest.

Shot with Mamiya 645 Pro TL, Mamyia 55mm F/2.8 lens, Kodak Ektachrome E100G

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

hello all

Just arrived home after almost 2 month trip. A fountain inLondonnear theThames

Nikon D300 + 18-200 VR @170 mm

ISO 2000 – f 5.6 – 1/25 sec

David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

Kids Being Kids”

I don’t take a lot of photos of humans, but I will once in awhile try my luck in that area. This is a shot of two of my nephews doing a bit of exploring at the Mill Hollow / Bacon Woods public park in Vermilion, Ohio.

Panasonic Lumix FZ35

 Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hi Everyone!  Hope you are all ready for the holidays.

We are still a bit warm for this time of year.  The sweet alyssum is still in bloom and the hover flies are just loving it.   I must admit it was a very a wonderful fragrant experience to be so close to these flowers.

I would like to wish you and your families a joyous holiday season.

Birdie

 Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

have to reach back to the archives again this week- just can’t find the time to get out and get any decent shots -  feeling the stress of last minute Christmas projects!    This is a shot from our trip toItalya couple of years ago – we stayed a wonderful villa inTuscany.  I just love the countryside inTuscany- the hillside looks like a patchwork quilt and I love the beautiful variations in green. We did a lot of side trips from the villa to see all the sites likeFlorence,Venice, Piza etc but I could have easily kicked back and enjoyed this scenery.  

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays- however you celebrate the season. 

 Stacy Winsett – Allen, Texas

 This is my neighbor’s fence. I keep going back there to see what I can find. The wood is old and worn, the nails are sticking out in odd places, and there always seems to be a leaf caught in the slats. This is one of the few shots I DIDN’T take with my 50mm f/1.8 lens of “stuff on the fence.” I happened to be out chasing Cardinals with the 300mm and of course this caught my eye. I love shallow DOF shots with lots of texture, so I couldn’t resist this shot when the rain finally stopped.

Taken 12/14/11Allen,TexasNikon D90 Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 116mm – 1/125 f/4.2 ISO

 Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

Mushrooms All Over”

While hiking last Saturday I saw all sorts of mushrooms in the forest. Must be perfect weather for them. This little crop stood out for me saw I paused and shot them. Lots of color and holiday festive — if you can see that!  ;-)  Everyone enjoy and have a fun time out there.

Photo: 12/17/2011, Canon EOS 7D, ISO 400 at f/3.5; 35mm focal length.

-Ken Papai

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

A bowlers view of the batsman “getting bowled”.  I hope everyone has a great Christmas and stays safe.

Nikon D3 + 200-400VRII at 400mm, f/4, 1/500 s and ISO 1600

 Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

Coloring My World.

I am really happy with the result of this picture since I was able to achieve the 8th place in the 365Project. It´s a selfie from a week challenge I was putting myself. I felt running out of ideas till I saw that I could get really close to the trains passing by near the supermarket. I´ve placed the the camera in my tripod and from there was just a matter of waiting and moving with the umbrella into de framing. The picture is tonemapped with painterly to give this warming feeling in such a cold and cloudy day.

Here are the details: camera Canon EOS 550D, exposure 0.25 seconds, f/16, iso 400, focal length 23 mm (canon ef 28 – 55 mm lens)

 Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

 Joseph Leotta

Wardsboro,Vermont

Let me take you to the center of my town – The intersection of Route 100, Main Streetand the South Wardsboro Road. Yes that’s it – the center of town, the hotbed of activity. Any questions as to why I love Vermontso much. There’s building near the center of the photo with a American flag on the roof – our general store which has all you need to get along. Great food and baked goods at decent prices with a gas station next door. The horse farm that I showed you is down the road to the right. I posted a photo taken from that bridge and many more from the area.

This 3 shot HDR was taken Saturday morning. The picture doesn’t show it but it was cold, very cold 11 degrees F.  Photomatrix is a very interesting piece of software. I shot the 3 bracketed shots handheld. I had no tripod. it has a alignment feature which aligns the 3 photos by features.. Not bad .

 Haig Tchamitch

 Après Surf..

Getting to be late in the day on an Australian beach near Port Macquarie, NSW.

 K20d + DA 55-300 @ 135mm, f/7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO

 Jeannean Ryman

Merry Christmas to me! I bought a new D7000 for my Christmas present. It’s been hard not opening it, but I haven’t had much time to learn it yet, so it was probably a good thing I waited.

 Jeannean

Weekends in Vermont, weekdays in New York- plenty of different photo op’s. This weekend we had some early winter snow. 

Different areas around town had very varied accumulations. 6 inches in one place and just sprinkles in others. This photo taken yesterday shows just how much it can differ in even just one spot. This is the Northern – Southern exposure difference. The side of the road with the southern exposure show almost no snow while the northern exposure side shows a few inches. Just wait before long there will several feet of snow on both sides.

Newell Hill Road inWest Wardsboro.Vermont ..

Nikon D300 nikkor 18-200 Dx zoom @ 18mm  1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 400

Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

I started my process of dettachment from where I live now – Velbert(just about 15 minutes from Wuppertal). I can´t really say that I will miss this place but rather just the memories of a wonderful time with my beloved husband. So today I went for a walk to register a bit from the surroundings, so this way I will be able to look back at my album and remember the places I´ve been and what I´ve done. Next year we will be moving out of Germany… I am in that state of excitment for the new experiences to tome but also feeling a bit nostalgic to leave all that we have built here so far.

Best regards,
Lara.

Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

 I love touring cathedrals when I am traveling on business and I came across this silver and gold statuette of “Our Lady of Antwerp” in the cathedral in downtownAntwerp. The detail is incredible and the craftsmanship exquisite. The lighting is pretty cool too.

 Canon S100, 1/13 sec, f2, 5.2mm, no flash

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

Getting lucky in photography is a matter of being prepared for luck…….  being prepared is everything to me, the unexpected becomes an opportunity when one is prepared…..

This is a photograph of a wheat crop curing in early summer with a thunderstorm passing over Mt Gellibrand in the distance.  I love the strong textures of wheat and barley heads when they are curing pre-harvest like this but have always struggled to make a more complete image from incorporating a wheat or barley crop in my photos.  But last Friday I knew the forecast was for the chance of thunderstorms at the place I was working and I had my camera gear and tri-pod with me just in case something popped up….. and it did!

I was working right next to this particular field of wheat and saw the storm moving down from the north.  I quickly set up the tripod, got my frame and focus set, all whilst hearing thunder coming from the storm clouds so I attached my shutter release and waited to see if I could anticipate some lightning in the vicinity of where I had the scene framed – and I got lucky!!  The very first squeeze of the remote trigger and I caught this small fork bursting from under the cloud – a complete fluke, a stroke of luck but I was organised and was ready for lady luck to strike!

Tripod mounted D700 + AF-S 17-35mm @ 35mm, f/22, 1/160th sec, ISO 400 (with tethered remote shutter release)

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning Sharpshooters!

My photo this week comes from the end ofPoint Lobos AveinSan Francisco.

You can see the fog, which appears to be the sky, as it rolls down the hill.

Within minutes (about three minutes to be exact) the area was thick with fog.

Have a wonderful week!

Gej

Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

 First of all, thank you for the kind words about my photo last week, very much appreciated.

This week has to be an archive. So why not take a photo from May this year. FromItalytheAmalfiCoast.

Warm weather and vacation just a few miles south ofPompeii, Herculanum andNaples.

All the best

Jens

Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Cannon EOS60D, ISO 400, f/6.3, 1/800

Had a great moment at the zoo with this lil guy…loved the expression and the position

Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Thanks for all those nice comments last week. Very nice week. This shot was taken a few month back atEagleLakeParkclose to my house. I just loved all the colors in this pic. Looking forward to another great week.

 Nikon D3, Nikon 300 2.8, Nikon TC-20 E III, 600mm, F/5.6, 1/50 sec, ISO 1000

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

 In summer 2010 when I visitedNorwayto play in a bridge tournament inLillehammer, I stayed a bit longer with some friends who were kind enough to take me around to visit some fjords and coastal towns.  This is shot from the coastal road. BW conversion in CS5.

Pentax k20d + Tamron 28-75 @ 28 mm f/11

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

 The Cathedral and town from theAlcazarTower

Nikon D300 + 18-200 VR @ 32mm

ISO 400  -  f 4 – 1/1600 sec.

 The Roman Acueduct, that was used till a few years ago.

Nikon D300 + 10-24 @ 10mm

ISO 200  -  f 9 – 2.5 sec.

Grant Tanner – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

 Hello everyone
My photo is from the Australian PGA a couple of weeks ago. The group of golfers i was watching were Bubba Watson, Greg Chalmers(the eventual winner of the tournament), and John Senden. Senden is a favourite of mine as he is the travelling professional for Keperra Golf Club where i first picked up a golf club. My parents still live beside the course.
This photo was taken as John Senden took his ball from the 2nd hole after taking a hole in one on the hole. Brilliant golf shot

D90 Nikkor 16-85mm Lens  1/640sec @ f7.1 ISO200

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

I thought I would post the lunar eclipse photos, but then I thought someone else would post much better than mine   On the same day, I went to town and walked toward the setting sun.  It was Sunday and the cars were shut out and the streets were all for pedestrians (pedestrian heaven is the name of such weekly event).  The people and the shadow of them which were actually multiple thanks to the reflection of the sun on the buildings was interesting.   Hope you have a great week!.  Ken

www.kih.me
D90, 12-24 @14, f/8, 1/1600s, ISO 320

Stacy Winsett – Allen, Texas

High School Football inTexas

 The combined population of the 2 towns that played in this game (Alvarado & Chapel Hill – 3A Division I Finals) is under 8,000 people…but somehow they pulled in over 12,000 fans at Cowboys Stadium. It’s no Dallas Cowboys crowd, but pretty impressive. Have you ever seen a high definition screen that’s 60 yards long? You almost have to see it to believe it…it stretches from 20 yard line to 20 yard line. Quite amazing. I was sad that I didn’t get to shoot this game – the UIL who runs the event wasn’t issuing field passes to freelancers. Guess I need to get busy with my sports portfolio so I can do some freelancing next year for the paper!

Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

One of the few times I actually got to use my long zoom lens.

This guy landed and on the piling next to the boat.  I liked the texture of his/her belly and the texture of the rusted piling.

Nikon D200 F/8 1/250sec, 55-200 lens @ 160mm

Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

 Many thanks to those who commented on everyone’s photos last week. It was very much appreciated. My photo this week was taken last Wednesday during our morning walk along the canal bank. Although not the best of photos, it certainly is one of my more exciting finds. I happened to see a large bird perched in a tree. I though it was a hawk, so took a photo and zoomed in on the LCD to see what kind of hawk it was. It wasn’t a hawk, but a Great Horned Owl! I took Maggie and Noah back home, and stealthily made my way back hoping to get closer. I was able to get a few feet from the tree, and get a few photos before it flew off to another tree, where I witnessed an angry Red-tailed hawk squawking at it for an hour before I had to finally leave and go to work. The whole thing reminded me of a school yard fight where all the kids gather to watch. All kinds of birds flew over to the tree to see what was going on, including a little hummingbird. It was a sight! Unfortunately, it was the shaded side they were on, so the photos didn’t come out that well, but if you want to see more of the encounter, I put a few in my Zenfolio here. (Taken with Nikon D90/70-300mm VR.) Tags: Great Horned Owl, Red-tailed hawk

 Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

 Hello!

To all around the world!

First, thank you Robin, Gej and Wayne for taking time to make comments.

I appreciate that!

I tend to learn from looking at others photos and from reading their comments.

My photo for week 98 is recent one, from last saturday. It was nice day for photography, lot’s of dark clouds, spot of sun now and then, etc. So I took my bike and rode around my county.

This was taken on the way back home after sunset. I wanted to take photo of the road curving in to dusk, but this car fits in nicely I think. And I had a chance to see end of eclipse of moon.

Since moon came out late we only could see little bit of it when it was finishing. Didn’t photograph it, though.

Techs about photo: Nikon D80+Sigma 10-20@14mm, f10, ISO 160, 30 sec exposure.

 Greetings, Filip.

 Pozdrav, Filip.

///—-\\\

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

Emma Roberts – Coventry, England

 This weekend my children spent the weekend at their grandparents which gave us some rare child-free time. On Saturday we went to the German Christmas Market in Birmingham. It was so busy, I’m glad we didn’t have the children.
After having a coffee I went back out onto the street and set up my tripod to take this 5 second exposure to try to convey the business of the Christmas shoppers,
It was originally going to be a colour photo with the bright Christmas lights but I liekd it in black and white.
We didn’t join in with the shopping, we looked around the stalls but spent most of our time in Birminghams museum and art gallery. Much less hectic!
 
I hope your Christmas preparations are going well, I really need to start mine this week!
Emma  

Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

 Stormy weather in Sharjah, UAE. As rarely rain can be seen on this part of the world the dynamic of the weather is always very impressive, the rush of dust and wind with a lot of statics and then the rain settle in.

Shot with Nikon F6, Nikon 50mm F/1.8 D lens, Kodak Tmax 100 film.

Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hi everyone.  Where does the time go?  I can’t believe another week has passed.

I am still trying with the birds, but with some smaller ones.    This is  a Savannah Sparrow .  These little guys don’t sit still for long.  I have been trying to get a decent shot of one for some time.

D7000    300 mm f/4 with TC .

Hope you enjoy

David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

“Reservoir, December 13, 2011″

I spent a lot of time here as a kid. This was the first time I’d been back in many years. Bittersweet memories…

 Panasonic Lumix FZ35

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

A shot of the upper end of our lake.  I cropped the photo a dozen times, probably, thinking I should take out some of the lower left hand grass.  I ended up leaving it as it was originally.
 
Nikon D7000, Tamron 18-270, 27mm, F/8, 1/500s, ISO220.

Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

 I have not had much success with the camera in the last couple of weeks-   rainy weather, late nights at work etc – so I’m resorting to another shot from one of our trips out West -  this is a shot from Canyonlands National Park- I love the wide open space and intriguing landscape and the clouds-  I’m always drawn to the West and never get tired of the scenery.   Hope everyone has a great week and I’m looking forward to this week’s submissions – thanks to Gej, Wayne and Robin for your kind comments and everyone who comments on facebook too!  

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

A shot of the outside of Grand Central taken from downPark Avenue

Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

Thank you very much for your very kind comments on my photo last week, I really appreciate them. This week another one from the same session with my lovely client, Miss E..

Nikon D700, 24-70 f/2.8@ISO 200, f/8, 1/200s

Have a lovely week and I look forward to seeing all your photos.

Jana

Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

This is a photo of my friends daughter Kaylee.  I moved ‘outside my box’ and took a picture of something else besides a horse!  Probably an easy shot cause she had the most beautiful face and blue eyes! It’s untouched except for a few cookie crumbs I removed!

Last week was spectucular! sorry I didn’t get to comment on any of them, the holiday rush is already here, almost forgot to submit this.

Have a great week!

 Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, Auto exposure, Program AE, ¹/64 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

 Toronado Ales”

Pictured: Blind Pig IPA and Pliny the Elder IPA fromRussianRiverBrewingCo.

The Toronado is the BEST beer bar on the West Coast.  Been going there since late 1992. It’s onHaight St.near Fillmore,San Francisco.

Photo: Tuesday night, 12/13/2011, EOS 7D, 16-35 at ISO 400, f/16, 20 sec. exposure.  A lot of fun.

Cheers!

Ken Papai

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

 This is my mum.  Sadly, I had to say my final goodbye to her yesterday.  She was 84.

 mum in her younger years (we often forget that they too were children).

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

On sunday I was attending my nephew’s birthday party, and spotted these 2 gents standing chatting. I forsee some street photography in my future.

Taken with a Nikon D300 and Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Black and White conversion using Topaz plugin.

Joshua Fahler – Jhubei City, Taiwan

 This is a late addition to the photos this week. I’m currently back in theUSvisiting family and getting ready for our wedding, part 2. Since my family/friends couldn’t be inTaiwan, we’re having a second, smaller ceremony in theUSwith US customs/traditions. Yuling’s family was able to come and visitOhio, where my family’s from. 

 We visited NYC during this time and I hope Joe isn’t too mad for not contacting him! We were pretty busy in the city for the three or so days of exploring and my two summers interning for the city came to be pretty handy as I was the navigator. Her family was a bit bewildered at first, but came to really enjoy their stay. 

 I hope to make more posts in the future now that the wedding is almost here/finished and hope everyone has a good Christmas if I can’t make posts.

Photo information: taken at 18mm, f/8, ISO 100 and a shutter of 2 seconds.  

Josh

Special Bonus Photo Section

Stacy has a 3 photo essay

 Stacy Winsett

The Image of Sound: Water

Sight and sound are two of the most important of human senses. Based on our life experience, we have made correlations between sounds we hear and what we envision to be creating them. This series provides visual imagery of the sounds created by water in its various forms, and allows for experiencing the sounds frozen as one brief moment in time – a perspective not often realized in daily life.   Stacy Winsett, December 2011

 Drip

 Drop

 Whistle

December’s Foggy Scene

This is the photo that I have been looking to find for a long time.  Monday afternoon while driving down Shore Roadfog started rolling in. I always wanted to try and get some fog shots but never really had a camera at the right place and time. That changed. My rule of always having a camera with me made this happen on Monday.

I took about 50 shots of the fog byShore Road and the Lagoon and ended up with about 20 different keepers. That’s a very high average for me. 

This one was taken off ofShore Roadlooking into Turtle Cove.

The 2nd was taken a little further down the road and across the Orchard Beach Lagoon.

I never like to bury old cameras and forget about them. I went out with the 1^st generation Nikon Digital D1x.  I always liked pairing the 18-70 zoom on it.  That camera still knows how to sing and at only 5MP it does a excellent job.  Photos were shot raw and processed in lightroom.

Both  at ISO  250 with a Compensation of +2/3

 Sun thru the fog: @ 18mm  1/350 sec, f/9.5

Fog at the shoreline: @ 22mm  1/160 sec, f/6

Emma Roberts – Coventry, England

I bought some mirrored tiles to play around with for photos, I took this of a mis-shapened ice cuve in our conservatory. I set my white balance to tungsten to give it the blue, icy tones. I’m looking forward to playing with the mirrors some more to see what I can come up with.
Emma

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

 Today I would like to present to you King Lazarus from ‘Out of Africa Wildlife Park’.  After visiting his hairdresser he consented to sit for a portrait session.

He is the only survivor from a litter of 4 male cubs born in captivity.  Of the 4 he was in worst shape when he was born, the owners had to perform about 30 minutes of CPR on him to keep him alive.  He lives a happy and healthy life nowadays.

 Pentax k5, DA 55-300 @ 120mm, F/11, 1/400 sec, ISO 400

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

 Another pic from MartinGarciaIsland. The cementry of the island with its crosses, that nobody knows why the small part is tilted

Nikon D300+80-200 @105mm  
ISO 200 – f 5.3 – 1/500

Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

HDR image from the Zollverein inEssen. This is an Industrial Heritage “Zollverein industrial mining complex“ is a perfect example of the coalmining and coal processing industry in the 19th and 20th century. Zollverein is the only mining site in the world where the complex processes involved in this branch of industry can be seen and clearly understood. For this reason Zollverein is the symbol of industrial heritage in the Ruhr Area, the region inGermanymost deeply affected by the social, economic, aesthetic and industrial upheavals during the age of coal and steel

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

This week I’m posting a photo from our trip in September to my brother-in-laws house.  His yard was just full of birds, and bees, and flowers and I really enjoyed wandering around with my camera.
 
Nikon D7000, 240mm, F/7.1, 1/1250s, ISO1250

 Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Devil on Drugs

I met this guy inVenice…he was really nice, but very very messed up on drugs.  He was talking so much and was very into having his photo taken.  The good thing is that he did not pose too much.  I loved this one shot i got of him.  I think he had a little too much of whatever he was on, on this particular morning.

cannon EOS 60S, ISO 200, f/4.5, 1/320

Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

Today. Monday, the sun was shining bright this morning and we decided to take the ferry toSweden, only 20 minutes,6 kilometres, away,

but the weather changed rapidly so we had our first snow this winter.

All the best

Jens

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

This is the new 6 passenger ‘bubble’ lift at Mount Snow Ski Resort called the Bluebird Express  Mount Snow is the only resort in North America to have this kind of lift.  Each chair seats 6 people in very comfortable padded seats (I sat in the chair they have in the base area to try it out, I don’t ski so it’s the closest I’ll get!).  Then automatically or manually a wind protective shield comes down over the riders.
Mount Snow also built ‘The Nest’ to store the bubble chairs in at night. Yes, all the chairs will come off the lift at night to be free of snow/ice that may fall overnight.
The whole thing is a beautiful sight at the base of the mountain!

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, Auto bracket exposure, Aperture-priority AE, ¹/664 sec, f/5, ISO 400, Compensation: +2/3

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

Greetings all.

After a few hectic weeks and non working computers, I’m back up. I had the chance to spend a little time in studio doing some fun concept photos using Christmas lights and a very pretty model. While I think we got some good results, my forgetting to take a tripod di hamper things.

Will have to try again soon.

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

Cloud week was a big success.  Cloud can be very good practice subject as well as an artistic subject.  Everyone did quite well!
Here is my submission this week – I was walking, searching for nice autumn leaves in Tokyo and on my way to a park where those trees would be lit up (annual event….), then I saw this magnificent view – the sun setting on the train tracks.  I just couldn’t pass and start shooting.  Took several to make HDR, but in the end, I picked one plain shot, not HDR.  I thought it should be more natural in this case……  Hope you are having a great week! 

Ken
www.kih.me

D700, 28-300 @40mm, f4.5, 1/2000sec, ISO 200

Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

my photo for this week is from my last week’s session with Miss E. Miss E. is a little bit special, as last year she was the first client for whom I employed my make up artist and hair stylist Rachel, and ever since then Rachel has been working with me on every single job. Having a make up artist and a hair stylist is priceless and I cannot praise mine enough. We had a wonderful time that day and according to Miss E., we will have every year from now on  

Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8@ISO 200, 1/200s, f/8

Have a lovely week and I look forward to seeing all your photos. 

Jana 

Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

Another photo from my Thanksgiving trip toSouth Padre Island. This was taking on the boardwalk of theSPIBirdingCenter. It was a beautiful morning with no wind for a change, so really liked the reflection. (D90/70-300mm VR) Tags: Blue Heron,SouthPadre IslandBirdingCenter

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

For week 97 I offer this black and white photo, taken last month. We had two long weeks of thick fog and low overcast with no sun at all. It was depressing and cold, and this is only photo taken in that period of time worth mentioning….

Peggy, Robin and Ken, thank you for the comments! I hope I will do a set around Christmas, when I should have some more time…

See you all on Wednesday,

Greetings, Filip.

Techs: Nikon D80+Nikkor 80-200@105mm, f6.3, 1/60 sec, ISO 200. PP in Capture NX2.

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning Sharpshooters!

Thank you again to everyone who sent my mother-in-law a Birthday Wish and your Photos.  She was thrilled with your kindness.  Again, Sally and I appreciate your effort.

It’s been an exciting 24 hours.  Celebrated our 41st at a favorite restaurant inMobileand then, while driving back toOrangeBeach, got the call that we are going to be Grandparents.  Very exciting!

Thank you for all the FB congratulations…. We really are a family.

My photo this week comes from The Great Ocean Road, another photo of The Twelve Apostles.  

Suzanne, thanks for your suggestion! I tried Photomatix and think the results look more real than my attempts with Photoshop.  I’ll keep practicing.

Have a great week everyone!

Gej

Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

RiverDrava. Photo taken last weekend on photo walk with Filip Lučin.

Used equipment: Olympus E3, Olympus ED 9-18 @ 9mm, ISO 100, 1.3 sec @ f/22, tripod, Cokin GND 8 ( -3 ev ).

Regards, Davorin Mance

www.davorinmance.com

David Fisk – Sullivan, Ohio

“Early Morning, Amish Farm”

Just a random scene from the neighborhood captured one recent morning while I was out driving around.

 Panasonic Lumix FZ35

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Great week of clouds. I had to post a pic taken this week with my wife’s new Nikon 1. This is boots who likes to get in your face if you go outside and sit. I was trying some very close shots to see how close I could focus. Not bad for 3200 ISO. So far its a pretty cool little camera. Won’t replace my D3 .

Nikon 1 V1, 10-30 mm, 30mm f/5.6, 1/60 sec, ISO 3200.

Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hi everyone. I really enjoyed your cloud shots .  I find these special  topics challenging, but that is  a good thing.

I have been trying my hand at birds in flight.  I have been having fun , but requires getting up very early

Hope you enjoy.

D7000  300mm f/4 with 1.4 TC

 Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

This is a shot inSan Moritz,Switzerlandon the banks of the lake right outside town-  this cute little fellow was minding his own business and enjoying the day.  Nothing special about the shot except I just think he’s cute!  Enjoy your week everyone and thanks to those who commented this past week – looking forward to this week’s edition. 

Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

Docker taking rest, Dubai Creek, a place where various goods are loaded to boats to be shipped across thePersian Gulf. Although the boats changed the sail for engine and the goods are now different the trade seems to  follow the same old dustless roads across the region.

Congratulation everyone for Clouds edition, I didn’t make it in time, my bad. 

Technical info: Nikon F6, Zeiss 35mm F/2 Distagon ZF lens, Paradies CR100 slide film (re-branded Kodak)

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

Soraya – ‘Pumpkin’”

I don’t post too many people photos, nonetheless baby photos by she was so cute this week going wine tasting with us. She’s teething and sampling a breadstick in thisSonomaValleytasting room and just 10 mos old. She is my neighbor/friend’s firstborn. I am not around babies much but Soraya is a lot of fun — being an “uncle” I don’t get all of her fun 24/7 !  ;-)

I had to shoot this with high ISO, inside, 30 mins. after sunset, and dark enough at the Anaba bar for this high ISO. Incidentally, I bought 4 bottles of wine there  ;-)

Canon EOS 7D, 24-70 lens at 54mm, ISO 3200, f/3.2.  Dec. 3, 2011.

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

Here’s a spot I walk past everyday – the corner of 37th & 7th right outside my office and looking intoTimes Square. I’ve been meaning to shot this for the past year and tonight I finally did. Couldn’t have picked a better night for it. The rain making the ground wet really adds a lot with the reflection of the light and a light fog in the air catches some light in the sky aroundTimes Square. 

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Sunset going through the dismal swamp on the ICW.  The sky turned this incredible gorgeous red, it looked like we were sailing into hell.

Shot with a HP Photosmart camera, F/2.9 @ 1/32 sec

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Benji (my mother’s dog, now in my care)

Nikon D300 at 24 mm, 1/6s, f/2.8 and ISO 800

 Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

This is an impromptu portrait photograph of my parents taken a couple of years ago in the city of Melbourneon the occasion of my mother’s 70th Birthday.  We as a family all gathered from out distant places and celebrated with ‘high tea’ taken at the Hotel Windsor in the heart of Melbourne.  I took my camera bag with me but was too self conscious to take any photos inside at tea but my parents requested a photo taken outside before we all split up and headed out separate ways.  I have cropped and converted this one to B&W in Photoshop and added a light vignette, played with a frame tool and some grain effect to soften the image.  

Captured very quickly hand held on the roadway out from the footpath with lots of passing pedestrians and cars…..   taken with my D700 + AF 85mm f/1.4 D lens @ f/3.5,  1/400th sec, ISO 400

Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

 Gej Jones

While leaving for lunch today a noticed these mushrooms.  Returned and took five shots in the late afternoon sun.  

Stacked the five photos using CS5.

Hope you like the result

 Joseph Leotta, Junior

 EmpireStateBuilding

Wayne Ervine

 More Christmas lights

Joseph Leotta – Bronx, New York

 A streak of light

I think that you can find the most dramatic clouds at dusk and dawn with the sun backlighting them.. The other best time for finding clouds is always around storms.  Now let’s get lucky and find the two situations together – A rain storm clearing out at sunset.

I actually shot this one a few weeks ago at the beginning of November, but didn’t get to see it till last week. I was in the mood to try something different and took out a film camera and was driving around with it for a few days. Coming back from a job I stopped by City Island to try and take a few shot as it was shaping up to be a good looking sunset.  When I went to grab the camera I was mad that I only had the film one and was longing for the digital. This one made me remember why I love film so much. I only had about 12 shots left on the roll and a fixed 50mm prime lens.  No zoom and only a few shots to get it right.  This is what photography is all about – doing all the work before you press the button. 

I need to shoot more film. It just has such a different look and feel. The camera feels like a camera should with the motor drive advancing the film after each shot and making noise.

Nikon F100 – 50mm f1.4 Af-d Nikkor – Kodak Portia 400 VC scanned on Nikon Coolscan

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

 Even though sunrise and/or sunset photos of clouds can be quite spectacular, I thought I would treat the group to a view of the clouds while being right in the midst of them.

When you exit the Geiranger fjord inNorwayfrom the north face, you will be treated to some gorgeous scenery that has remained unchanged for centuries.  I suspect this was the path of a glacier a ‘few’ years ago .

Pentax k20d, DA 12-24 @ 12 mm, F/7.1, 1/1000, ISO 2

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Here is my cloud theme photo in case I don’t come up with anything else.  This shot was taken earlier this year.  Thanks for emailing weeks 93 and 95.  Great shots by everyone (as usual).

Greg

Nikon D3s + 70-200VRII at 200 mm, f/2.8, 1/200s and ISO 400

Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

 These two have been taken from my Kitchen´s window.

Both are SOOC. (straight out of the camera – no post processing)

Hope you like,

Lara.

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

This was taken some time ago on my first DSLR, and if I remember right is a 2 shot composite done on the camera, seeing as the exposure needed for the clouds and the moon was so different. Next time around will rather try going the HDR route.

Taken with a Nikon D5000.

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

These clouds were taken out the front windshield as we traveled down the highway on the way to a grandson’s ballgame in September 2010.  I always love light rays.  The only processing I did was take out a power line (hope you can’t find where), and border, convert to sRGB, text, and resize. 
 
D5000, F/9, 1/320s, ISO200.

Bill Shenton – Sheldon, Connecticut

This picture was taken at sunset while sailing in the British Virgin Islands nearPetersIsland… port. The Island to the starboard is Tortola and the one in the middle isSt Johns.

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

 This is a re-work of a photo I took in May 2009, I’m figuring I never submitted it for Sharpshooters as I tend to use ‘photos of the moment’ to contribute weekly.  If you either think you’ve seen it submitted or you def. know it’s been submitted before then let me know and I’ll crank out something else………Cheers,
Matthew.

Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

This is really my only decent shot that includes clouds…I need to get out there more and look up and shoot…  Happy Monday my friends.

Cannon EOS 60D, iso 400, f/22, 1/500

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

Great photos last week. And I’m sure this clouds theme will be interesting too!

My photo is from archives, from one of summer, or late spring thunder storms that roll over my town.I thought wide angle would give nice perspective between church and sky.

Nikon D80+Sigma 10-20@10mm, f11, 1/100, ISO 100.

Greetings, Filip.

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

 I took this at the beach during Thanksgiving. Not often you find a shark flying in the clouds!  

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

BurlingtonVermont sunset

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

Here is what I took last winter in the Tohoku region, where the big quake hit one month after my visit.  So, while combing through my pics and found this one was sort of “meant to be” this week’s special submission.  The snow field in front is actually the lake which is completely frozen in winter and the clouds, setting sun, and the mountains over there view was just beautiful.  I was there to visit Seiko’s factory there – very interesting.  Hope this qualifies as “cloud” photo  

Ken
www.kih.me
D700, 28-300, @52mm, f/5.6, 1/2500sec, ISO200

Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

This was another shot taken from New Smyrna Beach Fl. The sun never did show much of itself that morning due to such low cloud cover. Still hard to even capture the beauty that I was witnessing that morning.

Nikon D3, Nikon 80-400, 200mm, F/6.3 , 1/200 sec, 100 ISO

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning to Everyone!

The Alabama Coast Line, although short in comparison toCaliforniaandFlorida, does provide an almost unencumbered view in both directions.

I’ll never tire of looking at its sunsets!

Joe, I’m looking forward to your rebirth.  See you again on Wednesday.

Gej

Stacy Winsett – Allen, Texas

March Storm Cloud

Nikon D3000 + 18-55mm kit lens  32mm ISO100  1/1250 @ f/4.8

Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Taken about 7 ½ miles north of St Augustine Inlet  in FL

030°01.861 N, 081°15.794 W

I just happened to be lucky enough to catch a seagull flying at the top of the frame

Nikon D200, 18-70 lens @ 70mm, F/5.6 @ 1/640 sec

Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

This is a shot at sunrise on the beach at the Outer Banks in NC – a stormy morning with the sun trying to break through some pretty imposing clouds.  I love a bright blue sky filled w/ puffy white clouds, but storm clouds can be pretty interesting too – in this case the sun was a bit of a tease as the clouds won the battle and the day was a rainy one

Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

My photo for this week has been taken in my garden during the Spring, the sky inAustraliais almost always so beautifully blue, I love it. 

Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8@ISO 200, 1/160s, f/13

I look forward to seeing all your photos. 

Emma Roberts – Coventry, England

This was taken on Saturday at CharlecotePark, a National Trust estate not far from where we live. There is a current challenge on 365project.org this week which was to submit photos in the style of Ansel Adams, this is one of my entries.
Thanks,
Emma

Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are enjoying each and every day.

Not too long ago , we had a cool front approaching.  I was out trying  to find some cloud formations for this assignment.  The egret happened along, and well could not resist.

Birdie

Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

My daughter and I drove all afternoon by the local hills in search of interesting motifs. We were not impressed and a little disappointed we were going home. The sun was setting and at one point in the car rearview mirror I saw how the sun beautifully illuminates the clouds. Instinctively I turned on the gravel road and headed across the field toward a small hill. We arrived at the moment when the sun is going down and all I managed to shoot this day was this photo.

Equipment: E3 + Oly ED 9-18 f/4.0-5.6 ( 18-36mm eqv. )  @ 9mm, ISO 100, 1/30 sec @ f/11, Cokin GND S ( 3 f stop ), handheld, pp in photoshop CS3

Regards, Davorin

www.davorinmance.com

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

“Golden GateFog”

Fog is nothing more than low lying clouds. It comes pushing into theGolden Gatein the afternoons — it can be perfectly clear and warm everywhere else except for this one-mile wide entrance into the bay.

Image: Canon EOS 7D, 35mm, f/8, ISO 100, Oct. 2011.

-Ken Papai

Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

Here are some clouds moving into a valley in Alaska. This was taken at 9:00pm.

Nikon D100, 1/200sec, f7.1, ISO 200, 14mm

Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

 Peggy G

These clouds were taken in my front yard when we were doing the “textures” week.  Granted, there aren’t many clouds, but I like the wispy look of them against the color of the sky.  I love the moon.  No processing except border, text, resize, sRGB.
 
D5000, F5/6, 1/160s, ISO 200

Stacy Winsett

Light Rains Down

Nikon D3000 + Sigma 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6  95mm ISO100    1/640 @ f/7.1

Jeannean Ryman

This was taken on the canal bank this summer during one of our evening walks. I liked the wispy clouds and the sunset. 

Snow for Thanksgiving

I just love to spend the Thanksgiving holiday up at the house inVermontwith the whole family. It’s my favorite time at the house. I think we’ve only missed 1 up there in 24 years.  It’ is just the perfect country family holiday.

One reason is that the setting just lends it’s self to a holiday feel. This year we were lucky to get a foot of snow on last Wednesday that covered the ground with a wonderful soft blanket of white.  The house while on a back road,   is still on a main road.  That being in mind there is more that just houses around.  TheSouthWardsboroChurchis over 100 years old and a iconic landmark and sits a ¼ of a mile down the road.  Throw in a little snow and you get the quintessential holiday photo. Taken on Friday

 Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

A couple of weeks ago I was able to visit a Hot air balloon show that took place in southPhoenix. It was not as big as some of the other ones that are held in places likeAlbuquerque, where they get upwards of 100 balloons of all shapes and sizes.

For those that have never witnessed a launch, the balloon is laid out flat on the ground, and then using the fan that you see in foreground of the second photo, air is pumped into it. Once it is somewhat inflated, the burners are used to pump hot air into it, and start it lifting off the ground.

Pentax k5, DA 12-24 @ 12mm, F/8, ISO 800 for both shots

 Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Sunset going through the dismal swamp on the ICW.  The sky turned this incredible gorgeous red, it looked like we were sailing into hell.

Shot with a HP Photosmart camera, F/2.9 @ 1/32 sec

 Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

can’t wait for Wednesdays, seeing what’s going on all around the world week after week,

all put together in this little group, by Joe, think it is amazing, thanks.

Here in DK we are Sunday afternoon waiting the first autumn storm.

This is from the local beach.

Have a nice week all.

Jens

 Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

Fall color came to centralMississippi, and left. The color is all gone now. It was generally good this year, but I didn’t have much time to do much photography this year. Now, all I have to look forward to is an unlikely snow. I got this shot while I was waiting for my wife to get finished with the dentist.

Nikon D200, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/1000 sec.

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

I have really been enjoying everyone’s photos every week – they are spectacular!!  I haven’t had much time for photography lately, nor comments, but have still enjoyed looking.  One that comes to mind from last week’s photos is Matthew’s cat.  A really beautiful animal portrait! 
 
My Veteran’s Blvd. hawk has been hanging around lately and I got a few shots recently.  They aren’t sharp enough, and if anyone can tell by looking what I’m doing wrong I would appreciate it.  Although I think the problem lies mostly in my hands.  Hope you enjoy it anyway.

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

Cinder Ella

Well, I’ve found HDR.  I’m addicted.

 Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

Here is the very first snow of this winter in my place, the kind of wet foggy cold weather that makes all people stay indoors but brings up some interesting photo opportunities.
We were two of us, myself and a good friend of mine sharing the same photo bug, we meet once in a while and do a photo walk taking shots of whatever comes up, it’s more fun in two and interesting to see what the other guy gets from the same scene.
This time we went to local train station and while we were waiting on a overpass for a train to come we got these couples of people passing by.
Although is already a cliche, I think the footprints on the snow are pretty cool. I’ll come up with couples of more shots from this series next week and so.

Shot with Nikon F3HP, Zeiss 35mm F/2 Distagon ZF lens, Paradies CR100 slide film, re-branded Kodak film

Bill Shenton – Sheldon, Connecticut

This picture was taken last week at sunset… in theLouisianadelta while returning by boat from fishing. Two pelicans were perched atop… taking in the view and searching for schooling fish and a final meal before nightfall.  Hope all had a great week and to those who celebrated a Happy Thanksgiving…

Stacy Winsett – Allen, Texas

Nikon D90 w/kit lens 18-105 f/3.6-5.6

ISO 320 1/100 @ f/5.3

Studio strobe lighting – single 110 watt softbox

This isJordan. She has the most amazing eyes.

 Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Dave 

Saw this guy inLos Angelessitting against this crazy spray painted red wall…He did not speak much but was open to me taking his photo.  I asked him if he wanted some money for lunch or something….he declined and just walked away.  His face tattoos and the red scabby nose with the tattoo outline and the matted down red tinted hair was so intriguing. 

Canon EOS 60D, ISO 100, f/5, 1/100

 Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

Hello everyone.  Hope you had a nice weekend, long or short.  Here is one from my weekend excursion in Tokyo- autumn leaves park hopping.  It is a bit warmer than average and the best time for autumn leaves still seemed a week or two away.  Unbelievable.  Anyway, this shot was taken at the park almost in the center of Tokyo.  I am finding that Tokyohas lots of green and parks.  I wish the tall buildings around them didn’t get in the way.  With those colors, I am still learning how to make the color more prominent while suppressing the highlights.  Have a great week!  Ken
www.kih.me

D700, 28-300 @35, f/8, 1/160sec, ISO200

 Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hope everyone had a great holiday and week.  Another great set of shots last week.

We had our first heavy dew the other morning . Since I had not done any dew or water drops recently, out I went  to see what I could find .  I had forgotten the feeling of laying down in the cold damp grass !  It certainly tends to wake you up.

This is a stacked shot from about 6 individual shots.  I did manual focus stacking in CS5.

Hope you enjoy.

D7000 60mm micro with extension tube.

 Per-Christian Nilssen – Sarpsborg, Norway

Many of you know that my daughter is dancing in freestyle/discojazz competitions.  This weekend, there was another competition, and during one of the other classes, I decided to try a bit of motion blur images.  Here is one I am quite content with.  (For the record, this is not my daughter….)

Nikon D300, Nikkor 24-70 mm @ 70mm, ISO 200, 1/3 sec @ f9.

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

First, welcome to our newest member, Lara Zinn. I look forward to your photos!

My photo for this week is from couple weeks back. It was chilly saturday morning before dawn. I wanted to photograph a tree in sunrise, but weather didn’t exactly cooperate so I had to change plans a bit. This was one of photos I took while waiting for sun to finally come over the clouds. I hope you like it. Take care, see you on wednesday!

Photo data: Nikon D80+Sigma 10-20@10mm, f13, 1/13 sec, ISO 200.

Pozdrav, Filip.

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello all
A drop of light, as a friend called this pic

Nikon D300+80-200 @80mm  
ISO 200 – f 3.5 – 1/2000

Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

My husband and I went to the beach this past weekend – an after Thanksgiving getaway to relax a bit before the big Christmas rush….   this is a shot of theOldRiverfrom our back door.   We had 1 1/2 days of really beautiful weather – then the storm clouds started rolling in – but the sun was still out and I like the way the houses on Ono Island are illuminated against the gray sky -  the rain actually held off until Sunday but then it came with a vengeance and left very chilly temps behind!   Still- enjoyed getting away for a couple of days and looking forward to getting back down there soon

 Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

One of the many birds I saw on Thanksgiving…the Brown Pelican. My family left me behind on the jetties, because I was so engrossed watching them dive for fish, I lost track of time and them. Luckily, my brother in law waited for me back at his truck, otherwise, it would have been a 5 mile walk back to the hotel. He said he’d been waiting for a little over an hour. He gets the gold star for brother in laws! (Nikon D90/70-300mm VR @ 1/1600, F/8, ISO 400 -1.3 EV) Tags: Brown Pelican,South Padre Island 

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good Morning Sharpshooters!

Drove nearly 19 hours in the rain on Sunday.  Arrived at 3:00am inOrange Beach,AL.  Numerous accidents just north ofBirmingham,Alabamathat had us sitting in the rain for over an hour before the traffic started to move.  Next year I’ll consider not traveling the Sunday after Thanksgiving!

My photo this week comes from our visit toMelbourne,Australiathis summer.  While walking the city, I noticed a number of statuary above the light poles.  There were numerous pieces but this one caught my eye more that the others.  I’m thinking this fella was taking a rest before flying off.  And you thought pigs couldn’t fly!

Have a wonderful week.

Gej

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Spent two early mornings in a row Last weekend waiting on New Smyrna Beach Fl. for the sun to rise. So beautiful that time of the morning. Nikon D3, Nikon 80-400, 105mm, F/9, 1/320 sec, 125 ISO

While I was waiting for the sun to come up It was still pretty dark out and I got a shot of the light house onDaytona beachwhile it was still lit up. Nikon D3, Nikon 80-400, 310mm, F/5.3 , 1/80 sec, 2500 ISO

 Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

 “Marin Headlands”

Took this photo from Slacker Hill while hiking.Conzelman Roadwinds up to Hawk Hill, above theGolden Gate. The Federal Government just improved this road (millions of $$) and the road was close about 6 mos. — it reopened only three months ago and is very nice.

Canon EOS 7D, 40mm, f/7.1, 1/500, 11/26/2011.  It was cold and windy out.

-Ken Papai

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

Here’s a picture I took a while back of my friend Kyle skating on theshoreofLake Champlain. Camera definitely had some dust issues when I took it, but I still like the panoramic-ish feel the picture and the mid-air capture of Kyle skating. 

 Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

This scene was captured on one of the properties I work on and has only materialised in the past 6 months as we have had very good winter and spring rains for two consecutive years.  It’s a 12 acre lake made in the volcanic plain by building a tall earth wall at one end of a large natural topographic depression and waiting for the rain to fall on the surrounding catchment area.  The lake is now full to the brim after a prolonged drought of 14 years and the water birds have returned to this part of the landscape in large numbers.  This is just a photo taken after work which is something I like doing often.

Captured hand held on my trusty D700 + AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8  @ 17mm, 

f/9,  1/1000th sec,   ISO 400 with active D lighting set to ‘normal’

 Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

This was a shot I took while capturing birds in flight.

Nikon D300 + 200 VRII at f/2, 1/8000s and ISO 1600

Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

In the night of full Moon

In the summer full-moon night I went to my favorite river. Lonely tree, boat, beautiful moon, and like a mirror flat water surface are occupied my attention immediately upon arrival. Given that the moon was very strong, I placed the moon behind the trees, so I got the silhouette of a tree and a boat. Due to long exposure boat and the clouds are slightly blurred.

Equipment: E3 + Oly ED 9-18 f/4.0-5.6 ( 18-36mm eqv. ) @ 9mm, ISO 100, 50 sec @ f/6.3, tripod, pp in photoshop CS3

Regards, Davorin

www.davorinmance.com

 Emma Roberts – Coventry, England

A very quick upload today, as you may be aware the public sector in the UKare striking today. My son and I took part in the rally and march this morning. I took about 300 photos today and I’ve just got in now. This one is the first one I’ve had chance to do some editing with. If probably use some more from today next week.
 
If you wish to know why I;m striking please see my comments here: http://365project.org/emmar84/365/2011-11-28 
The turn out in Coventry was fantastic, over 2000 people when I left.

Emma

 Special Bonus Photo Section

The bonus photo is of interest from somewhere in the world

 Alejandro Held

A road in MartinGarciaIsland, in Rio de la Plata. Into a small forest.

Nikon D300+80-200 @185mm  
ISO 200 – f 2.8 – 1/320

Joseph Leotta

Back to our favorite horse farm in my town.  Each year I have gone back and taken a shot tere and this is the 3^rd tie I’ve posted it in sharpshooters.

This year I got a shot a week ago before the snow fell.  

 Stacy Winsett

Here’s an extra from me…I HAD to include my cow photo from yesterday. It may be my favorite photo I’ve ever taken.

Nikon D90   18-105mm kit lens  1/800 @ f/14 – 24mm ISO200

I just happened to see this beautiful herd of cows from the road, so I pulled over. When I saw them initially, they were headed the other way, so I was hoping for a nice silhouette of the cows retreating. However, when I got out of my car and walked up to the gate, they immediately took an interest and all headed toward me. The one in the front (#869) didn’t look like she was going to stop! This herd belongs to the Lucky Layla dairy farm.

New York Botanical Gardens in fall

NYGB is just a magical place. It is so well manicured and well kept that it is almost cheating taking photos there.  The fall color is gone inVermontand winding down fast here in NY. Last Wednesday I stopped for a quick hour in the late afternoon and went right to my favorite part – the English garden by the conservatory.  Just a perfect day for foliage color.

So one thing that I have always want to try but never had the time to was HDR post processing.  Suzanne up inVermontasked about it a few weeks ago and started playing with it and has been getting some excellent results.  So I had to play with it.  This one is cheating a bit. Instead of 3 bracketed shots on a tripod, this is a one shot HDR.  The original had a very wide range of light with many dark and light areas due to the late day shadows.  I made 3 copies of the photo with different brightness setting – normal, dark and light and then combined them in Photomatrix HDR software.   Not too shabby for a first attempt.

Nikon d300 – 18-35 DX vr zoom @ 35mm – original , 1/400 sec, f/7.1, ISO 320

Raw processed in NX2 – 3 images combined in Photomatrix

Lara Zinn – Velbert, Germany

This picture was taken for the liquid theme. “Oil & Water Do Mix” was the original name for the picture. To produce this image is was simple yet a tricky process. First because you need a good source of light, which in my case it was provided by the morning sun reflection on my table. I´ve placed some water on a transparent tray and added a bit of oil. It is important not to mix to hard otherwise you will have to many little bubbles. Underneath the tray I used a the very colorful cover of my reading glasses. I use one extension tubes connected to my 18 -55 mm canon lens. The most complicated thing is to get a good focus in the entire frame. Since I was not able to accomplish that I shot the original in RAW + Large file and cropped. The picture was then processed with the Photomatix Pro 4. I´ve tonemapped it and used the default setting for enhancing.

Warm regards,

Lara.

Stanley Beck – Jackson, Mississippi

“Twinkle, Twinkle” — For a change of pace, I thought I would try a night shot, hoping to catch a little of the Milky Way. No luck there – too much ambient light.

This was a 30 second exposure with my lens wide open. The house was receiving light from a couple of flood lights from across the street, which really irritated me. A tree behind the house was illuminated by a street light. In post processing in Photoshop ACR, I increased the exposure by 3-½ stops, and used curves to re-darken the sky and reduce the noise present from the long exposure. I cropped from the bottom.

30 seconds is a bit too long for stars – 10 to 15 seconds is about right (otherwise you get star trails), but with a faster lens, and higher ISO if it doesn’t add too much digital noise.

Stanley Beck Photography on Facebook

Nikon D200, ISO 200, f/4, 1/30 sec., 18-70mm lens (18mm), tripod

Sandi Mahncke – Snellville, Georgia

This shot was taken this weekend atStone MountainParkwhich is just down the road from my house.   A little bit of “Southern” fall color for you-  it was really nice this w/e – I wish the color would last longer though!   We go to the park quite a lot on the weekends w/ our dog – it’s a great place to hike, ride bikes, climb the mountain.  Hope everyone has a great week – looking forward to seeing everyone’s work!

Another shot fromStone MountainParkand some southern style fall color.   Took awhile for the leaves to change down here but it was especially nice this year – unfortunately I didn’t make it up to the North GA mountains in time to catch the color there, but Stone Mountain had a lot of nice color too- .

Peggy G – Tupelo, Mississippi

 Another from our last camping trip.  Experience and youth, but the same concentration on the water! (-:
 
Nikon D7000, 270mm, F/8, 1/640s, ISO320

Jens V Frederiksen – Elsinore, Denmark

 What a lot of great BW-photos last week, hopefully this week will stand up to them too.

My photo is from Sunday, yet another grey November day, but here whit a few colours.

The local fisher is emptying his net and apparently cleaning the catch too, think that it is
what the seagulls are waiting for.

All the best

Jens

 Suzanne Bauer – West Dover, Vermont

OK I admit it, I am hooked on HDR.  I can’t stop myself cause I’m having so much fun.  Here’s one for this week. I was finally after about 200 shots over several nights to get a decent shot of christmas lights.  As they say ‘you only have a few minutes right before/during dusk to get the shot.  I didn’t even need to make this an HDR photo but when I did I liked it much better.

Hope everyone that celebrates Thanksgiving has a wonderful day!

Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi, Manual exposure, 0.4 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400

 Jana Hughes – Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Hello Everybody,

First things first, I was looking backwards through our website today in search of my photos, as I wasn’t sure, if I posted this one already before, and I was really taken aback by some of the photos there. Every section had gems in it, all from different people, the best thing is, that I’ve realised, that I didn’t single out any photographers, all of you delivered very high standard photos many times over. I feel very privileged to belong to this group. 

My photo this week has a very pleasant news attached to it, as Lisa Bell, the opera singer on the photo, has released her album Heartsong on iTunes today and this photo is on the cover. The joy of seeing my work on the CD cover is indescribable, I’ve been on a cloud nine since the morning. The photo has been chosen, as her hands resemble the heart shape and she felt that was the perfect message.

I look forward to seeing all your photos, I am sure the standard will be very high.   Jana

Nikon D700, 24-70mm f/2.8@ISO 200, 1/125s, f/6.3

Robin Warner - Santa Monica, California

Chilling Out

This is YaKen….I was walking by and saw him sitting there with the hat on.  I so taken in by his look that I had to ask him if I could take his photo.  Oh, it was fun…and about 60 shots later I ended up with some cool images of him.  I have kept in touch with him and sent him copies of his photos.  He is a young musician and I am planning on meeting him sometime soon to take more photos.  If I never had begun this amazing photographic journey 18 months ago, I would have probably just walked right by him without even noticing.  I am so grateful for this new found passion.  It is truly life changing.

Cannon EOS 60D, Tamron 18-270, ISO 100, F/8, 1/250

Haig Tchamitch - Scottsdale, Arizona

About an hour and half drive north ofPhoenix, in Camp Verde, Arizona you can find the “Out of Africa Wildlife Park”.

They have a large number of the big cats, a few bears, and also quite a mix of other wild animals that you would find in a zoo. The staff are very much hands on with the animals and have a great rapport with them.  It is quite a pleasure to go up there for the day and walk around to enjoy the beauty of those majestic animals in a spacious and open environment.  This first shot is of ‘Chalet’, a gorgeous Siberian white tiger.

Pentax k5, DA 55-300 @ 300mm, F/9, 1/1600 sec, ISO 800

The subject of this shot is a lioness, acting like a little kitty while she plays with her toy ball. 

Don’t you just want to take her home?

It was mostly a cloudy day, so I was keeping the ISO at 800 so as not to worry about catching any of the action.

Pentax k5, DA 55-300 @ 55mm, F/7.1, 1/6400, ISO 800.

Joseph Leotta, Junior – New York, New York

Jillian and the Cow.

My sister Jill feeding an apple to aVermontdairy cow during the snows a few weeks ago.

 Alejandro Held – Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello all

“Ascension”, an art installation by Anish Kapoor, inside Basilica di San Giorgio, inVenice.

Part of the Art Biennale that is taking place till next week here.

Nikon D300 + Tamron 10-24 @10mm    ISO 200 – f 7.1 – 4 sec

Matthew Brennan – Birregurra, Victoria, Australia

Our cat is named Aby (Abyssinian breed).  She knows all the comfortable, quiet, and warmest places around our place in which to take a cat nap.  Here I found here sleeping on the guest’s bed in the spare room, possibly the quietest room in the house.  Using the natural late afternoon light filtering in from the window (frame left) I took this hand held photograph close up and with the aperture nearly wide open. 

The golden embroidered pattern on the bed cover makes for what I consider some nice bokeh.  I enjoyed taking this shallow depth of field image which is something I rarely do as I mostly chase landscapes.

Captured with Nikon D700 + AF 50mm f/1.4 D  @ f/1.6, 1/40th sec  ISO 800

-         no editing apart from border frame.

Steven Lakose – Wallingford, Connecticut

Fisher’sIslandrace.  Going to wind in 30 knots of wind in 8 to 10 foot seas.  110% jib with a double reefed main sail on a Pearson 36-2 sailboat

I was lucky enough to catch the shot just as we slammed through a wave, so you can see the spray in the air and to the left.  Shot with a HP Photosmart camera, F/4.8 at 1/1000 sec.

Wayne Ervine – Johannesburg, South Africa

Greetings all.

I have to say last weeks posts were truly stunning. The standard seems to be continuously improving.

I had the privilege to do some portraits for a very good friend recently. A lady who is very close to me and a great counsellor. So for some of the photos I got to try my hand at doing some environmental portraiture, where you try to use the setting to tell something about the person or persons. While this photo does not really reflect her passion or enterprise, it’s a wonderful setting in her home. I find the lighting to be more challenging than studio work but think the end result is worth it. All in all 3 strobes were used here.

  taken with a Nikon D300 and Tamron 28-75 f/2.8 lens.

Ken Yamamoto – Tokyo, Japan

Hello everyone,
Thank you for your comments for my last week submission on FB.  That interface is really easy to use and add comments and I like it very much.  Anyway, this week I again submit one from the Kyoto trip.  At one temple, I could see the beautiful garden through the temple building together with other tourists sitting on the terrace, and I thought it was very nice view.  Hope you like it, too!  Ken
www.kih.me
 
D700, 28-300 @160mm, f/8, 1/100 sec, ISO3200 (Auto)

 Jeannean Ryman – McAllen, Texas

I’ve been seeing a lot of Monarch butterflies lately, so thought I would share one with you. I usually find them on the lavender Crucita bush, but liked this on the Butterfly Milkweed plant since it’s about as close to “Fall Colors” as we have down here. Hope everyone in theUShas a Happy Thanksgiving, and for those friends elsewhere, have a happy day! (Nikon D90/Sigma 150mm@1/2500 f/4.5 ISO 400) Tags: Monarch butterfly

Jeannean
http://jeannean.zenfolio.com/

 Davorin Mance – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello!

This is „Rainbow“ bridge inNovi Sad, city inSerbia. The bridge is equipped with lights that change color at various intervals.

Best regards, Davorin

www.davorinmance.com

Filip Lucin – Cakovec, Croatia

Hello all!

Last week I had a chance to photograph  anual Jazz fair held in my town.

For this occasion I borrowed 80-200 2.8 lens from a friend and I must say that it was too dark anyway… I had my ISO set to 1250 or 1600. But, I managed to get a couple shots that I liked. This is one of them, I liked the expression on singer’s face while trombone player was doing his solo.

Techs are: Nikon D80 + Nikon 80-200@80mm, f2.8, 1/125, ISO 1250.

Pozdrav, Filip.

///—-\\\

Moje fotke i blog: http://www.filiplucin.com/

Bogdan Nicolescu – Pitesti, Romania

First, congratulation to the group for last B&W Wednesday, wish I’d not miss it… I though about posting a B&W shot this week but here is a color photo from Emirate of Sharjah, UAE. This is a place where tourist comes for a joyride over the dunes, looks like a lot a fun but sometimes is just sheer luck not to roll over.

Info: Nikon F6, Nikon 50mm F/1.8 D lens, Paradise CR100 slide film – re-branded Kodak

 Rick Dohme – Tampa, Florida

Great BW pics last week I loved them all. Went for a walk in the park last Sat. looking for something to shoot. In the shade of the oak trees I saw these cute flowers being lit up by a small ray of sunshine.

Nikon D3, Nikon 80-400, 400mm, F/5.6, 1/500 sec, 800 ISO.

 Gej Jones – East Lansing Michigan

Good morning fellow Sharpshooters!

Here in theUnited Stateswe will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday.  Having just returned from seeing my doctor, my photo this week describes the prescription I was given.

Looking forward to seeing all of your work tomorrow.

Have a safe and wonderfulHoliday.

Gej

 Roberta Davidson – Destrehan, Louisiana

Hello everyone and happy Thanksgiving to you all.

I planted some sunflower seeds late in the season to see what would happen.   Due to the warm weather , they are now blooming.  The bees and

the butterflies are have a great time with them.

Hope you enjoy.

Birdie

Ken Papai – San Rafael, California

Hotel Huntington”

Saturday, 11/19/11, looking from the 36th floor out west thought S.F. towards theGolden GateBridge.

EOS 7D at almost 70mm, f/6.3.  For you inUSA– Happy Thanksgiving and CHEERS! to everyone else.

-Ken Papai

 Don Enderlein – Brooks, Georgia

I hope you enjoy a different perspective of Sacre Coeur inParis.

I just bought the new Canon S100 as my pocket travel camera. I’ve done some side by side comparisons with my Nikon D300 and have to say that some of the images are very close in quality. I’m going overseas again this weekend and can’t wait to spend a day walking and snapping.

Nikon D300s, 1/400 sec, f8, center weight

Stacy Winsett – Allen, Texas

This is just a standard John Deere tractor/hay baler that you would see dozens of around where I live. I thought it deserved some retro-style processing. This photo is comprised of 4 layers, one brown/cream split tone of the photo, one full color of the photo, a pink gradient, and a green gradient. I liked the way it turned out.

Nikon D90  18mm  1/400@ f/10 ISO200

Greg Kowalczewski – Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Taken earlier this year.  The light was coming through the fence and from above.

Nikon D3s + 70-200 VRII at 195mm, f/2.8, ISO 1100 and 1/8000s

 Special Bonus Photo Section

The Bonus photos are of special interest from some where in the world

 Steven Lacoste

My son Skyler at his baseball tournament.  I initially like the blurred bat, but upon closer examination I really like the look of determination on his face.  You can see he’s putting everything he has into the swing.  Shot with a Nikon D200 ISO-100 F/4.5 @ 1/125 sec 18-70 zoom set at 62mm focal length.

 Joseph Leotta

Dawn

I’ve been looking for a shot of a sunrise for quite a while but seem to be sleeping when the sun comes up.

Last time up inVermonta week ago I beat the sun up.  Taken while in my PJ’s out the side window of the house. Nice and warm inside bitter cold outside.  This was to easy.

Wayne Ervine

This pose was her son’s idea, and I ended up balancing on top of a ladder to get it. But love the result.

Happy Thanksgiving from Haig and all the Sharpshooters