June 2021 Favourite Uploads

[Jill Morgan]

1 hour ago, Michael Ventura said:

 

Ditto what Ed said!!  It looks like I could reach out and touch them!  Beautiful 

 

Thanks Michael.  As I mentioned, an improvement in equipment can go a long way.  I started out putting out feeders just to shoot the birds, now I have become fascinated with them.  May see if i have a local twitcher's society here to join. Probably nothing right now with Covid still pushing restrictions on us, but probably in the fall when life will be sorta back to normal.

 

It helps too if you spend time sitting out near the feeders,  The birds get used to you being there, so as long as I don't make any fast movement, they hang around.

 

Jill

[Chuck Nacke]

On 21/06/2021 at 13:40, John Mitchell said:

On the weekend, I dropped by this makeshift shrine on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. It honours the 215 indigenous children whose unmarked graves were recently discovered at a residential school in BC. It was a very moving experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nicely done John,

 

Very sad story.

 

Chuck

 

From Juneteenth:

Yea, it is a tad dark, having a Gamma issue.

 

 

 

[John Mitchell]

33 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said:

Nicely done John,

 

Very sad story.

 

Chuck

 

From Juneteenth:

Yea, it is a tad dark, having a Gamma issue.

 

 

 

 

Thanks, Chuck. The government and church-run residential schools in Canada were a real tragedy. Sadly, gruesome discoveries like this could become commonplace.

[Betty LaRue]

One of my fried apple pies made from dried apples, simmered until soft again, seasoned with white and brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with homemade crust.
 

They aren’t prettily formed, but they taste good.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Betty LaRue

[Jill Morgan]

5 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

One of my fried apple pies made from dried apples, simmered until soft again, seasoned with white and brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with homemade crust.
 

They aren’t prettily formed, but they taste good.

 

 

Oh Betty, I can taste them. Mmmmmmmmm.

 

Jill

[Betty LaRue]

6 minutes ago, Jill Morgan said:

 

Oh Betty, I can taste them. Mmmmmmmmm.

 

Jill

My grown son was just about dancing from foot-to-foot waiting for the first one to come out of the skillet. He burned his tongue! 😁

[Betty LaRue]

9 hours ago, Jill Morgan said:

My arch enemy, the Grackle

 

These are awesome!

[meanderingemu]

1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said:

One of my fried apple pies made from dried apples, simmered until soft again, seasoned with white and brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with homemade crust.
 

They aren’t prettily formed, but they taste good.

 

 

 

expect a bunch of PU purchased with upset people asking for a refund later.....   😉

[meanderingemu]

 

Juvenile wood duck preening.   

 

[Jill Morgan]

1 minute ago, meanderingemu said:

 

Juvenile wood duck preening.   

 

 

So cute. Looks like it's ready for a bedtime story.

 

Jill

[Betty LaRue]

7 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

Juvenile wood duck preening.   

 

Precious image.

[Betty LaRue]

9 minutes ago, meanderingemu said:

 

expect a bunch of PU purchased with upset people asking for a refund later.....   😉

I’m off PU now. That won’t happen! 😊

[meanderingemu]

43 minutes ago, Jill Morgan said:

 

So cute. Looks like it's ready for a bedtime story.

 

Jill

 

38 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

Precious image.

 

 

thank you .  it did feel really peaceful, while brothers and sisters were all busy eating....  

[Ed Rooney]

Hmm. I value my PU sales. Most are for the full $19.99 and I don't recall ever getting a refund. When I got refunds in general sales, they were for a slight change in price or terms, and that was followed by a resale.

[Steve F]

47 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Hmm. I value my PU sales. Most are for the full $19.99 and I don't recall ever getting a refund. When I got refunds in general sales, they were for a slight change in price or terms, and that was followed by a resale.

 

PU sales are generally higher than half the editorial sales I get. I value them too!

 

re. refunds. I'm considering adding "Stock photo of..." in the caption to anything like pictures of medicine so there's (hopefully) no confusion....

Edited June 23, 2021 by Steve F

[Ed Rooney]

 

It's "Novel use" I've opted out of. The name of that activity should be changed to "pocket change."

[spacecadet]

Just now, Ed Rooney said:

 

It's "Novel use" I've opted out of. The name of that activity should be changed to "pocket change."

I had an NU ten years ago when it came in.

That's all.

However, net, allowing for the cut in commission, it's only my worst licence by about a dime. Go figure.

[Allan Bell]

10 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

One of my fried apple pies made from dried apples, simmered until soft again, seasoned with white and brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg with homemade crust.
 

They aren’t prettily formed, but they taste good.

 

 

 

Hi Betty they look very delicious, making my mouth water just looking at them.

 

Over here in Blighty they would be called "Apple Pasties" because of the shape.

 

Suggest you add "pastie/s" to your keywords.

 

Allan

 

[gvallee]

49 minutes ago, Steve F said:

 

PU sales are generally higher than half the editorial sales I get. I value them too!

 

re. refunds. I'm considering adding "Stock photo of..." in the caption to anything like pictures of medicine so there's (hopefully) no confusion....

 

I opted out of PU some time ago. So now, instead, I get Presentations. Unfortunately in my case, apart from 'Web use, Social Media, etc' (I think it says), other images tend to licence in Oz  for about double the price of a presentation. Hence the frustration. I busted several PUs in the past but only a couple of Presentations so far. 

 

Edited June 23, 2021 by gvallee

[Ed Rooney]

 

If they could raise the bar on this digital stuff, maybe Betty could email us some baked goods. I'm happy to pay for pie.

[Jill Morgan]

5 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

Hmm. I value my PU sales. Most are for the full $19.99 and I don't recall ever getting a refund. When I got refunds in general sales, they were for a slight change in price or terms, and that was followed by a resale.

 

I find the same thing.  PU sales are becoming the higher value sales and I've never had a refund on one.

 

Jill

[Betty LaRue]

5 hours ago, Allan Bell said:

 

Hi Betty they look very delicious, making my mouth water just looking at them.

 

Over here in Blighty they would be called "Apple Pasties" because of the shape.

 

Suggest you add "pastie/s" to your keywords.

 

Allan

 

Thanks, Allan, I will!

[Betty LaRue]

I’ll give the “no PU” a try and see if I notice anything different. If like Gen, they become Presentation instead, I’ll rethink it.

[Marianne]

 

I believe it was Ed who mentioned licensing a photo of a brick wall here, so I thought, why not? This was a white and red brick wall that I digitally hand-painted. It's earned me $$$ elsewhere in a short time, so it's easily a favorite. It's funny, when I get a $20-25 license at another library (roughly equivalent to a $60 license here after commission) I am happy, though I'm pretty happy with a $60 license here these days too I suppose, so not surprising. Anyway, I had fun painting it and just playing around in Photoshop. 

 

I've been experimenting with macro but having trouble mastering it. @Jill Morgan I love your dragonflies! I had some in my backyard for the first time ever last summer, which is odd since we don't have any water. Plan to head out to a park this afternoon and may just take a light 20mm or 35mm lens rather than the heavier macro. I've been toying with a long telephoto for my Sonys (I bought the A7r Mark iv last month but was then too dizzy to try it out until this week, mostly in my back yard, but the vertigo has subsided, at least for now and fingers crossed, for good, the world is opening up and I want to make the most of it. Your dragonflies made me think of some of my better shots of insects taken with the long lenses I had for my old Nikons - in some ways I wonder if a long lens is easier than a macro for these images. You don't frighten the insect away, nor do you shade it with your shadow. Shooting insects with a macro - or even flowers - I seem to toss more shots than I keep. 

 

I bought my current macro lens (90mm G Master) when my grandson was born on the recommendation of someone at B&H who said it would do double duty as a portrait lens, and it does, beautifully, though I haven't taken a portrait shot in 18+ months. My biggest issue is camera shake, setting the camera on aperture mode I often fail to notice that the speed has gone down to 1/10th or slower which it tough when you are inches away from your subject with a somewhat long and heavy lens. This grandma's hands ain't as steady as they used to be. I'm also spoiled by my Olympus which has the most amazing anti-shake - I could shoot at 150mm (300mm equivalent) at 1/10th and still get a useable shot. Of course my 40-150mm Olympus lens (the consumer version) weights about 10 ounces. 

 

I'm wondering if the higher MP oof the Sonys, 42MP and 61MP for the new camera also mean I need to be more precise in my shooting? Of course, I can probably shrink down all but the shakiest images to an acceptable size for stock. Right now though, my primary objective is to shoot images for an art consultancy I just started working with that sells very large prints to commercial buyers, hence the need for all those pesky megapixels. (They've sold a large panorama and another image for me so far). If I was simply shooting stock I'd stick with my little Olympus. 

 

As I natter away here off topic, I think about how I'll miss those of you who are leaving. It feels like the end of an era. You never know what direction a discussion will take here, and that's half the fun. 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2021 by Marianne

[Jill Morgan]

5 minutes ago, Marianne said:

 

I believe it was Ed who mentioned licensing a photo of a brick wall here, so I thought, why not? This was a white and red brick wall that I digitally hand-painted. It's earned me $$$ elsewhere in a short time, so it's easily a favorite. It's funny, when I get a $20-25 license at another library (roughly equivalent to a $60 license here after commission) I am happy, though I'm pretty happy with a $60 license here these days too I suppose, so not surprising. Anyway, I had fun painting it and just playing around in Photoshop. 

 

I've been experimenting with macro but having trouble mastering it. @Jill Morgan I love your dragonflies! I had some in my backyard for the first time ever last summer, which is odd since we don't have any water. Plan to head out to a park this afternoon and may just take a light 20mm or 35mm lens rather than the heavier macro. I've been toying with a long telephoto for my Sonys (I bought the A7r Mark iv last month but was then too dizzy to try it out until this week, mostly in my back yard, but the vertigo has subsided, at least for now and fingers crossed, for good, the world is opening up and I want to make the most of it. Your dragonflies made me think of some of my better shots of insects taken with the long lenses I had for my old Nikons - in some ways I wonder if a long lens is easier than a macro for these images. You don't frighten the insect away, nor do you shade it with your shadow. Shooting insects with a macro - or even flowers - I seem to toss more shots than I keep. 

 

I bought my current macro lens (90mm G Master) when my grandson was born on the recommendation of someone at B&H who said it would do double duty as a portrait lens, and it does, beautifully, though I haven't taken a portrait shot in 18+ months. My biggest issue is camera shake, setting the camera on aperture mode I often fail to notice that the speed has gone down to 1/10th or slower which it tough when you are inches away from your subject with a somewhat long and heavy lens. This grandma's hands ain't as steady as they used to be. I'm also spoiled by my Olympus which has the most amazing anti-shake - I could shoot at 150mm (300mm equivalent) at 1/10th and still get a useable shot. Of course my 40-150mm Olympus lens (the consumer version) weights about 10 ounces. 

 

I'm wondering if the higher MP oof the Sonys, 42MP and 61MP for the new camera also mean I need to be more precise in my shooting? Of course, I can probably shrink down all but the shakiest images to an acceptable size for stock. Right now though, my primary objective is to shoot images for an art consultancy I just started working with that sells very large prints to commercial buyers, hence the need for all those pesky megapixels. (They've sold a large panorama and another image for me so far). If I was simply shooting stock I'd stick with my little Olympus. 

 

As I natter away here off topic, I think about how I'll miss those of you who are leaving. It feels like the end of an era. 

 

I was really pleased on how well the dragonflies came out since they were shot at 400mm.  But when you are standing on a deck in a wetland, very few shots are close.  And dragonflies tend to stay put for long periods, not like the birds that take off as soon as you manage to get them in focus.  I was frustrated that I could hear tons of frogs but couldn't see one anywhere. Maybe next time.  Went to a wetland near me a few days ago, but not a critter in site.  Possibly because there were quite a few people fishing.  Going to be a film crew in there this weekend, so won't be able to go till next week sometime.

 

Jill