Extremely amateur photography

[LouCipherr]

Took this one a few days ago in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Interestingly enough, the sun hadn't set yet and there was the moon, perched high up in the sky...

[AcesandEights]

Took this one a few days ago in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Interestingly enough, the sun hadn't set yet and there was the moon, perched high up in the sky... Beach...Palm tree...you have no clue how pissed I am at you right now! By the way, nice homage to the state flag (my fav state flag of all 50)!

[LouCipherr]

Beach...Palm tree...you have no clue how pissed I am at you right now! *snicker* We went there this past Saturday and stayed 'till Tuesday afternoon. A 7.5 hour drive from where we're at, but it was so worth it. Here, I'll make you feel better Aces - it was cold and windy most of the time we were there.. By the way, nice homage to the state flag (my fav state flag of all 50)! Y'know what's really funny about that? I had NO IDEA at the time of taking the picture that the SC flag had essentially the same things in it. I had never been to SC before, and when I saw this particular setting on the beach (the is moon up? while the sun was still out? wtf?!) I just had to capture it. It was my wife (who has been to SC several times, Myrtle Beach in particular) who said "Hey, if only that was a crescent moon, you would've captured the state flag in that pic!" She then pointed out to me all these stickers and shirts with basically the same thing on it. How weird is that?

[AcesandEights]

Here, I'll make you feel better Aces - it was cold and windy most of the time we were there.. Oh, I know...my wife was visiting her parents there a few weeks back and had the same issue and is down there now again (because the in-law's dog died and they are in mourning ). Oh well, it'll be nice weather soon enough, I suppose. Y'know what's really funny about that? I had NO IDEA at the time of taking the picture that the SC flag had essentially the same things in it. I had never been to SC before, and when I saw this particular setting on the beach (the is moon up? while the sun was still out? wtf?!) I just had to capture it. It was my wife (who has been to SC several times, Myrtle Beach in particular) who said "Hey, if only that was a crescent moon, you would've captured the state flag in that pic!" She then pointed out to me all these stickers and shirts with basically the same thing on it. How weird is that? You're right, that is weird. Maybe you were subconsciously picking up on the recurrent palmetto and moon imagery...or maybe you were just wishing the weather had been warm enough on the beach to see some coconuts and full moons of a different sort. *shrug*

[Neil]

Took this one a few days ago in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Interestingly enough, the sun hadn't set yet and there was the moon, perched high up in the sky... Always interesting how small the moon really is... Just our brains make us think it's bigger - Like some other things

[MinionZombie]

Yeah, why is it that sometimes you see the moon during the day? Sometimes I've woken up on a really blue sky sunny day and sat right there in the sky is still the moon ... and that's at like 10 or 11 in the morning.

[Neil]

Yeah, why is it that sometimes you see the moon during the day? Sometimes I've woken up on a really blue sky sunny day and sat right there in the sky is still the moon ... and that's at like 10 or 11 in the morning. You get because you're on a Truman Show and they forget to turn the moon off sometimes!

[Mike70]

(the is moon up? while the sun was still out? wtf?!) I just had to capture it. the moon is out during the day quite a bit, lou. it is just hard to see it other than morning/eve. ol' Luna is rotating around the earth, so there is only one day a month where it is directly on the opposite side of the earth as the sun. the moon also rises and sets. that doesn't always happen according to rise and setting of the sun.

[LouCipherr]

You're right, that is weird. Maybe you were subconsciously picking up on the recurrent palmetto and moon imagery...or maybe you were just wishing the weather had been warm enough on the beach to see some coconuts and full moons of a different sort. *shrug* Quite possible, although knowing me like I do, the second part of your thought there is probably more accurate. You get because you're on a Truman Show and they forget to turn the moon off sometimes! Shhhhhh!!! Don't tell MZ he's part of the show! We've kept that hidden from him for decades! the moon is out during the day quite a bit, lou. it is just hard to see it other than morning/eve. ol' Luna is rotating around the earth, so there is only one day a month where it is directly on the opposite side of the earth as the sun. the moon also rises and sets. that doesn't always happen according to rise and setting of the sun. That's pretty wild. I've seen the moon in the sky before sunset before, I just rarely notice it. I've never seen that happen while I was at the beach though, so I had to capture it while I could. Aces might be right - might've been some subliminal suggestion going on, because once the wifey pointed out the SC flag w/the moon and palm in it (this was after I took the pic) I started noticing it everywhere. I had probably seen it prior to the picture and my brain put two and two together. I guess I should be happy my brain still functions in that kind of capacity.. Oh, and for the photography techies out there, that was taken with a Droid Incredible 2 phone. I took the pic, dropped it into Photomatix and created a single-shot HDR pic. Normally, I do HDR's with multiple shots and multiple exposures, but my phone doesn't do that kinda thing.

[Mike70]

Aces might be right - might've been some subliminal suggestion going on, because once the wifey pointed out the SC flag w/the moon and palm in it (this was after I took the pic) I started noticing it everywhere. I had probably seen it prior to the picture and my brain put two and two together. I guess I should be happy my brain still functions in that kind of capacity.. psychology rears its head again. this kind of thing happens to you more often than you realize. i'm no longer welcome in SC after (this is rich considering how much i love forests/trees/growing things) 2 friends and I accidentally set a state park on fire with the stub and i mean STUB of a joint in 1990. not a good day in my life. easily the closest i've ever come to going to jail. i was told to get the hell out of SC and never to come back. i don't have good luck south of the Ohio anymore, so i rarely venture into the south. I'm a northern guy anyway through and through, although i sound like a southerner. i'm more likely to go to Minn, NY (the Adirondacks almost make me believe in a deity. easily the most beautiful place in the world), ME rather than SC or FLA.

[AcesandEights]

i'm no longer welcome in SC after (this is rich considering how much i love forests/trees/growing things) 2 friends and I accidentally set a state park on fire with the stub and i mean STUB of a joint in 1990. not a good day in my life. easily the closest i've ever come to going to jail. i was told to get the hell out of SC and never to come back. Ah, I remember you mentioning something along these lines before. Damned reefer addicts!

[krakenslayer]

Love the Myrtle Beach palm shot! Here's a few new ones I've snapped over the past couple of weeks. I've also be pissing around with editing tools quite a lot lately: Grabbed this one at Loch Lomond using a telephoto lens I borrowed from work. I like this shot, even though it's not sharp on the figures. I like the sense of a layered landscape and how the figures break the frame into thirds. I'm not usually one for applying chintzy vintage presets to my shots, but I was playing around with Lightroom and I thought this looked really nice. I wasn't a fan of the shot originally (too dark, clipped detail in the shadows), but this effect (Antique Light) seemed to give it an interesting organic atmosphere and draw attention to the shallow depth of field (with the branches in the background becoming blurred as they move away from the camera). A similar effect on this one (Creamtone). It had started snowing like Siberia at this point and visibility dropped to almost zero, as you can see. Makes the edge of the lake look like the backdrop in a theatre or something. This was taken at Brighton during a period of similarly shitty weather. I painted out the saturation on everything but the coloured beach huts to make them pop. Not exactly original, but I'm happy with it. The remains of Brighton West Pier:

[MinionZombie]

Wonderful pics there Kraken! I love 1, 3, and 5.

[LouCipherr]

i'm no longer welcome in SC after (this is rich considering how much i love forests/trees/growing things) 2 friends and I accidentally set a state park on fire with the stub and i mean STUB of a joint in 1990. not a good day in my life. easily the closest i've ever come to going to jail. i was told to get the hell out of SC and never to come back. Sorry Mike, that's not really funny, but considering how it happened, I can't help but giggle a little bit. I've never set a park on fire with the remnants of a joint, but I will admit I almost burned down the mountain my house is on in West Virginia by doing something really stupid. We had been burning leaves in a metal trashcan a week prior, and I figured there'd be nothing burning in the can a week later, right? So I emptied the stupid thing over our back fence - only to see a pillar of smoke rising from that area about 10 minutes later. Apparently, leaves in a trash can will burn up to 2 weeks given the right conditions! I knew better and knew I should've checked, but I didn't. Had I not noticed the smoke, I probably would've burned down the entire mountain along with my neighbors houses... Talk about a stupid move! And I wasn't even smoking a joint at the time! krakenslayer - FANTASTIC pictures, man! My favorites are 1, 2, & 5, but I love 'em all. #2 (the bird pic) makes my eyes very happy. You've got a great eye for shot composition my friend.

[Neil]

OK! While on holiday I took a few HDR shots so now need an application to join the three exposures togethor? Anyone able to recommend a simple (free) one?