📸📸📸April Photography Contest Comment Thread 📸📸📸

[Soph0571]

Hi my loves

The April Contest is now open for submissions:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/103686157

The theme is Any photos taken after the sun goes down.

Please keep any comments to this thread.
Looking forward to some splendid entries and much kicking of the competition to ensure that we spread to news of beauty and splendour far and wide, cause you know with this theme the pictures are going to rock.

Have at it

[Soph0571]

1. And Peggy kicks it off with a beauty! n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Thank you so much, my dear Soph! ♥

[Grumpy Old Guy]

2. I'm new here.

Hi folks,

I'm new here. How do we post and/or submit photos? Do we upload them, or do we need to use a hosting website like Photobucket?

I've been taking photos for more than fifty years. You can see some of my stuff at www.ross-kestin.pixels.com or on Instagram at @oldguywithacamera.

Thanks!

Ross

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Hi, Grumpy Old Guy!

You will definitely need a photo hosting site! Anyone will do. I use Smug.com.

Welcome aboard, and I look forward to seeing your work.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

5. Thanks!

Thanks for the info.

Ross

[Soph0571]

6. Welcome to DU!!!!

As Peggy said you will need a hosting site - I use imgur.

Look forward to seeing your piccis.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

8. Thanks!

Thank you!

[birdographer]

9. Welcome to DU!

Your scenery photos are very impressive! DU photographers will have to watch out if you start entering contests!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

14. Thank you!

Thank you Birdographer, you are very kind.

Ross
Grumpy Old Guy

[elleng]

7. I'm in!

Been a while.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. And it's a beauty, my dear elleng!

[Soph0571]

11. Mighty fine picture

can you please go rec love... we want as much exposure as poss!

[HAB911]

12. I'm in! Good luck everyone!

[Tom Kitten]

13. I tossed one in

From the archives of course

[Grumpy Old Guy]

15. I'm having trouble posting my photo

Hi Folks,

I'm having some problems posting a photo for the contest. I've tried two different hosting sites, Imgur and Flickr. I copy the HTML link and paste it in my message, but the pic doesn't show when I preview my message. I'm an old hand at using photo hosting websites, but I seem to be doing something wrong. I used to use Photobucket, but I stopped using the when they raised their prices.

Am I missing something? Is there an extra step I'm not aware of.

Thanks!

Ross
Grumpy Old Guy

[Soph0571]

16. Copy and Paste the image and then..

Right mouse click on the image and select open in new tab. That will open the image in a jpeg or png and there you go. - copy and paste address and bingo!

[mnhtnbb]

17. You want the direct link

This thread on how to post photos is helpful

https://www.democraticunderground.com/103659987

[Grumpy Old Guy]

18. Thanks!

Thank you. I figured it out. 😉

[elleng]

28. VERY glad you did!!!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

19. First entry

I posted my first entry. It was hard choosing just one from my archives. Maybe if I'm lucky we'll get to enter another. 😊

[CaliforniaPeggy]

20. And it's a winner!

I'm pretty sure I know where you took it.

The Kenny Hahn Wilderness Park on La Cienega, I think. I've been there many times to shoot photos of the mountains behind the LA skyline.

Well done, my dear Grumpy Old Guy!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

21. You're on to me! 😂

LOL!

I was afraid it was too recognizable. You are exactly right, it's Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. We live in Culver City and shoot there often. It's great for both cityscapes and birding. I have dozens of images from there. Maybe I should have chosen a different shot. 😊

Did you know that the park is the site of the 1963 Baldwin Hills Dam Disaster? The large meadow at the top of the hill was the reservoir. The dam failure took five lives and wiped out an entire neighborhood. It was also the first time that a helicopter was used for live news coverage. My wife says she remembers watching people's furniture float down Ballona Creek that day. Her father and sister had been shopping at Fedco on LaCienega when it broke. The actual break took place near where the MLK Memorial is now.

(I hope this isn't too much info). 😉

Ross

[CaliforniaPeggy]

22. DO NOT CHANGE YOUR PHOTO! IT'S GORGEOUS!

I actually did wonder if I was right, since the park closes at dusk. Maybe you snuck in?

And no, I didn't know that was the site of the disaster! We did not live in LA at the time. It must have been amazing as well as horrifying to see.

And no, not too much info!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

24. Thank you for the kind words.

Yes, it was just after sunset. There was a large group of us, and the deputies cut us some slack. I had parked outside the park off La Brea Blvd. and was able to take my time leaving. Normally they do make people leave at sunset.

I worked in T.V. News for forty years, and have a wealth of information about L.A. history. I worked at KTLA in the late 70s and have seen the chopper footage of the dam failure. It's on YouTube too.

If you're interested, I can tell you about another catastrophic dam disaster in our area. I've photographed the ruins, and they're quite sombre and humbling. Google the "St. Francis Dam Disaster."

I know this is a little off-topic.

Ross

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. Here's my equivalent photo!

[Grumpy Old Guy]

25. Yep, that's it!

That's the spot allright. That is a great shot with the mist and the snow-capped peaks. Congrats!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

27. Thanks so much! It's one of my favs too.

You must have a killer lens to get that close-up! I was using my Nikon D3200 with the Tamron 18--400mm lens.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

29. Sigma Zoom

It was a Sigma 150-600mm mounted on a full frame Canon 6d mkii. I've since stepped up to a Canon R5 mirrorless, and thinking of getting a new Canon RF 100-500mm.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

34. Tamron 18-400

Peggy,

I wanted to ask you about the Tamron 18-400mm. How do you like it? I've been thinking of getting one for my crop sensor bodies. I think it would be a good walking around lens as well as a birding and wildlife lens. Is it sharp?

Thanks,

Ross

[CaliforniaPeggy]

35. I like my Tamron 18--400mm a lot.

I"m not sure if it's me, or what, but sometimes it doesn't seem as sharp as my Tamron 16--300mm was. And then other times it's perfect. I love the wide range it gives me.

Sorry I can't be more positive about it. The 400 mm is really wonderful, still.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

36. That makes sense.

Those super zooms are like that. Some level of quality has to be sacrificed to attain those wide to tele zoom ranges. The results can be inconsistent. I have a Sigma 18-300 that I'm not happy with.

Might I suggest that you try a program called Topaz SharpenAI. It miracuously adds sharpness to soft images. I like to think of it as getting full frame quality out of crop sensor cameras. It comes in really handy when shooting birds and wildlife.

Ross

[CaliforniaPeggy]

37. I'm using Paint Shop Pro for post-editing, and it does a great shop with sharpening.

I"m having a lot of fun learning how to use this software! I've even learned how to write on the image!

And you're so right about the level of quality being sacrificed for the wide zoom. For me, it's worth it! I love pulling in the far-away stuff.

[Grumpy Old Guy]

38. Paint Shop Pro is a good program.

I used it for a while. It does just about everything, and you only have to buy it once!

One of my quarantine projects has been to improve my Photoshop skills, which were sadly lacking. I've purchased several plug-ins which make it a lot easier. It's been a lot of fun. Topaz works as a plug-in or a stand-alone program, plus they give free upgrades.

Ross

[HAB911]

30. 2nd in!

[JudyM]

31. How do we check the photo size?

I just posted my first entry (afaik — I’ve considered posting so many times 😆 ), used Imgur to host and didn’t see a size...

[Soph0571]

32. So glad you put up a picture

For your first fist - if your picci is over and I will amend. But normally in Photo's, right click and choose custom. The larger dimension. reduce to 1024 and save. Bingo bango. And welcome to the competition Judy! Huzzah!

[JudyM]

33. Ok, great, thanks for that!