Photography Thread

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VOX
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by VOX »

I've been on holiday, shot some nice pics...


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Waterfall inside the Silberkar klamm ,Dachstein mountain, Austria

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Building storm over the Hohe Tauern

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Honeybee on wild alpine flower

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Butterfly

There will be probably some more , when I've sorted all of them out....
See you in the Haloverse, but hey, don't run, you'll just die tired!!

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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»Stealth »

Wow, those are beautiful Vox! Looks like an amazing trip. Can't wait to see more!
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»Shimmer »

Hi Vox : )
I love these pictures. Thank you for sharing them with us. Austria looks beautiful.
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»BierLKW »

Fantastic pictures Vox. Keep 'em coming.
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by VOX »

As promised,,,
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Traditional belltower, originally used on farms to signal the workers that the table was set.

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Views on the Dachstein mountain.
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Ice carving of crystals in the Dachstein ice Palace, a man made cave in the Dachstein glacier
See you in the Haloverse, but hey, don't run, you'll just die tired!!

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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»Eliza »

It's so beautiful Vox!
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Re: Photography Thread

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As luck would have it (and I guess I can get away with saying "as the star aligned"), I found myself in the exact center of the path of totality of the August 2017 solar eclipse that crossed the United States from coast to coast. I was also incredibly lucky to have a decent camera, a spare set of glasses, and a great spot to watch. Here are a few pictures (and my long story) from that day, 21 August.
The eclipse started off about 1300 local time, with the moon very gradually creeping into the top corner of the sun. It was so subtle that you couldn't tell for the first 10 minutes or so. The heat beat down upon you: you're sitting out in the sun, staring up through your specialized glasses to watch the orange sphere get eclipsed. But as it ever gradually wanes, you can feel the excitement building around you.

The sun, much to the dismay of the fans, moved behind a bank of clouds early on. It seemed as though the entire eclipse might simply be a solid sky of gray as loftier clouds moved in. But as the clouds broke, a wonderful sight awaited the spectators.
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As the clock ticks away, you're filled with more excitement and dread. The sun grows ever smaller in your field of view. Totality draws near. The clouds move slowly toward you, threatening to block you from seeing a once in a lifetime event. I decided to move positions to have a better vantage point during totality. With straps across my shoulders and glasses coming out of every pocket, I trekked across the campus towards the fringes.
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Under the trees, as the sun becomes a crescent shape in the sky, tiny crescents appear on the ground, as each gap in the leaves acts as a pinhole to project the eclipse upon the ground.
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At my new vantage point, I set up my camera again, struggling to find the sun. The final stages of partial eclipse are impossible to find with the dark filter over your lens. You frantically check your watch and your camera settings. The time is drawing near. The clouds are keeping at bay.

As the sun finally starts to disappear from view, the world takes on an eerie orange glow. It's almost as if someone took a dimmer switch to the sun, dropping the brightness of the world and giving your surroundings a sodium-vapor hue. Wildlife begins to act as if it's evening. The crickets chirp. The cicadas howl with long, drawn out songs. Birds fly up to roost. The excitement in the air is tangible.

And then it happens. Totality hits. It's unlike anything you've ever experienced in your life. One moment, the world is orange and dim, and the next it's pitch black. No long sunset. No evening. Just day to night in the blink of an eye. All of campus lets out a loud cheer, and then: silence. Stars are immediately visible, even directly adjacent to the sun. All around you on the horizon: sunset. It's the majestic colors of sunset in every direction you look. And directly above you, there's a black hole in the sky where the sun was only a moment prior. Your hands are shaking with excitement as you remove the filter and change your camera presets. As you depress the shutter, you shift your gaze skyward. The moon is the deepest black you've ever seen in your life, fringed by pure white projections of the corona of the sun. Along the edge of the interface are red solar flares protruding from the sun. You take in the world around you as you endlessly run your shutter. The sunset spans the entire horizon. You can see constellations with a new clarity you've never before experienced. You see planets, even right next to the sun. Was it Jupiter? Mars? You can't remember in your excitement. You look around at all of the people. Motorists have stopped their cars and are standing by their doors, gaping at the spectacle. The viewers around you are entranced. The world around you has stopped for these two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. It's magical.
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But the moment is fleeting. The magic simply cannot last. And as rapidly as it began, it ends. The world regains color around you. The ground is light again. The sunset is fading, and the people are repositioning the glasses on their heads. But you don't replace your filter. Not yet. The most majestic phenomenon of the eclipse is just beginning. You're risking your camera's sensor, but it's worth it: as the sun first begins to peek out from behind the moon, a brilliant diamond effect is observed. Rays of sunlight shoot out from the tiny sliver of white to the side of the moon, still shrouded in white itself. Although you can't see it with your own eyes for fear of damage, your camera captures incredible images of the event for you to remember for your lifetime. You shoot until your frames are solid white, and you ritualistically replace your lens filter and switch your camera's settings back to what they were prior to totality.
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You look around yourself. Couples are hugging each other. Photographers are cheering or are still frantically shooting pictures. Not a single person is left without a smile or fresh tears on their cheeks. Nobody can fully comprehend the majesty they've just witnessed and will retell with fondness to their children many years later.

As many pack up and leave, you stay and watch the other side of the eclipse. You take more time to look at the projections upon the ground through the trees and at the way the light still doesn't quite feel right. And then you remember that it's August and you've been in the sun for two hours and every inch of you is dripping sweat and is probably sunburned. You pack up your gear and head back to air conditioning, where you can comfortably walk outside and take a few more pictures every quarter hour or so until it ends. You begin to process your images and record your memories to be able to tell the tale. You excitedly text friends near and afar, sharing the magic as much as you can. It's a day you'll never forget.


I sincerely hope that all of you reading this get to experience this incredible phenomenon in your lifetimes. No words can ever do it justice. The hype surrounding it is not an overstatement. You really will remember it for the rest of your life.

Camera settings and specifics:
Primary camera:
Body: Canon EOS 5D Mk IV
Lens: Canon EF 77mm 24-105 f/4L
Lens filter: Homemade, using a lens from a pair of glasses and cardstock
Exposures during totality (unfiltered): AEB bracketed 7 2-stop exposures from 1/2000 to 1/2 second; ISO 400; Daylight WB

Secondary camera:
LG V10
S: 1/250
ISO: 100
MF
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»BierLKW »

Holy cow Stealth, these are amazing pictures.
I never got to see it. It's sunny in Vegas 361 days a year, but the day of the eclipse... it was extremely cloudy. :banghead:
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by A§H»Stealth »

Thanks Bier! And oh no! It almost clouded over here. I heard reports that as few as three miles away from where I was sitting got only clouds the entire time. And the 1 million poor souls that ventured to Charleston to see it? They saw a mediocre thunderstorm.

But worry not! The next cross-continental eclipse (only 28 years away!) might be more accessible to you.
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Re: Photography Thread

Post by VOX »

I second Bier...amazing pics :thumbsup2:
See you in the Haloverse, but hey, don't run, you'll just die tired!!

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